Of Notebooks and Spirits
by Yami-no-Tamashii
Summary: YGO/DN crossover. The Yamis and Hikaris move to Tokyo to attend Tou Ou University, unaware of the war they've walked into. Meanwhile, Ryuk informs Light that six strange teenagers have moved in next door...but there only seems to be three
1. Newcomers

Y-n-A: Omg, I am so nervous. This is probably the first DN/YGO fanfic on the site! The only other one I read was a oneshot, but it was still good. So here I am, trying [coughunsuccessfullycough] to write one of my own. This is my first long fic, my others are all oneshots. Thing is, once I've gotten past the introductions, I'm not sure how the plot's going to go. xD I'm not very good at planning these things out. Anways, hope you like it! If you do, I'll continue!

**Please read: **I've been getting a lot of people who add this story to their favorites list or subscribe or whatever, but for some reason, never review. HEL-LO? THIS STORY DEPENDS ON REVIEWS, AND IF I DON'T GET AT LEAST FOUR I'M DISCONTINUING, NO MATTER HOW MANY SUBSCRIBERS OR FAVORITES!!! SO PLEASE PPLS, _**REVIEW!!!**_

_**Also, I've gone back and changed all the 'Righto's to 'Raito's, because i was notified that it looked less awkward and I have to agree...hehehe.  
**_

* * *

**Of Egyptians and Death Gods**

Yagami Raito sighed in frustration. He had been edgy all week, and Ryuk's incessant chuckling didn't help matters very much. Ever since that 'date' with Misa...he had been worried…

* * *

_/Flashback/_

_Raito stared in satisfaction at the bloody corpse in the middle of the road. His plan had gone on perfectly, and he had the FBI agent behind him fooled, not to mention had found out his name. He smirked. This was just too easy._

_As Misa moved away to call someone on her cell, Raito noticed someone else looking at the corpse. He looked to be a young man about Raito's age, but he couldn't tell for sure, as his back was to him. He seemed strangely fascinated by the bloody carcass. Suddenly, the man chuckled darkly._

"_My, my, what a pity. Seems a shame that a man like him wasted his life committing crimes, eh?" the man chuckled darkly again. His voice was smooth, like velvet, and even with his back facing Light, he seemed regal and commanding._

"_Um, yes, it does seem a shame, doesn't it?" Raito replied nervously. _

"_This world is divided into light and dark. Those of the darkness live lives of crime, of lies and deceit. Those of the light lead lives of pure, honest work, laboring for their families. If one side were to disappear, however, the balance would be tipped, and chaos will erupt. Light cannot exist without the Dark, and Dark cannot exist without the Light. If Kira's streak continues, he will send the world into chaos."_

_Raito stared at the stranger's back in astonishment. Who was he to question the actions of Kira, of him? What he said was just a load of bull. He'll show him._

"_Actually, I-" he began, but was cut off._

"_But of course, Yagami Raito. You would be the one responsible if this chaos ever erupts, ne?" _

_Raito gasped. The stranger had turned around while saying this. Beneath the visor of his hat a pair of piercing blood-red eyes gleamed inhumanly. His face was fringed with spiky blond bangs, and his skin was a light shade of tan. His mouth was turned upward in a smirk. _

"_Good day, Kira. I have a feeling we will meet again," and with that, the stranger left, leaving a thunderstruck Raito behind._

_/End flashback/_

_

* * *

_Raito banged his fist on the table in frustration. If only he knew the brat's name! Then he could just kill him off, no harm done! Ryuk chuckled from his place on the bed.

"Thinking about that boy again, Raito?"

"How did he know? How? Do you think he has a Death Note like me? His eyes were red, maybe he has the Shinigami eyes! If only—"

"Calm down, Raito. He was not the owner of a Death Note, I suppose his eyes are naturally that color. They sure were an interesting pair, weren't they?"

"Then—wait, did you just say 'an interesting _pair_'?"

Ryuk nodded, taking another apple from the basket.

"I don't understand, there was only one person. And since you yourself said he didn't have a Death Note, he couldn't have had a Shinigami with him. Tell me, Ryuk!"

"It's not my place to reveal another's secrets. Besides, I also believe we will see each other again, and soon."

Raito sighed in exasperation. He didn't have much time. What if the guy decided to go to the police? He would be exposed for sure. If only he knew his name!

"However, there was something odd about the boy," Ryuk spoke up.

Raito perked up in his seat. "What do you mean?"

"Though I could sense he had no Death Note, my eyes could not see a name above his head. And his life span…was, believe it or not, _indefinite_."

"But how can that be possible? Only people with Death Notes can't have their names seen by a Shinigami! And what are you talking about when you say his life span is indefinite?"

"He has no determined life span. Technically, I'm assuming that he can live forever, or he is immortal, if you will."

"But how?"

For once Ryuk had no answer.

* * *

Another week passed, and it seemed the stranger had held his tongue, for as of yet no FBI agents had come barging down his door. Nevertheless, Raito was still troubled by what Ryuk had said. Indefinite life span? No name, even without a Death Note? This was getting fishier and fishier.

One bright Tuesday in June, Ryuk informed Raito that six teenagers had just moved into the house next door. 'They sure are a strange bunch,' were his exact words.

"Raito-nii! Come down, we're going to go welcome the new neighbors!"

"Coming!"

His father rang the doorbell once, then stepped back. There seemed to be some sort of commotion inside the house…

"TOMB ROBBER! GIVE ME BACK MY ROD!!!"

"You'll have to catch me first, Keeper!"(1)

The sounds of feet rushing up stairs, then a crash, thump, and a string of curses that would've made a sailor blush.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, RA-DAMMIT!"

"Aw, did the Pharaoh hurt his ego when he fell on his ass?"

"TOMB ROBBER, GIVE BACK THE ROD NOW!"

Raito's parents' expressions had gone from warm and welcoming, to shocked and fearful. Sayu could barely contain her giggles, and Raito himself was rather apprehensive. Who the hell were these people? He'll never be able to get a wink of sleep if they were like this all the time.

The door opened to reveal a rather shocking sight. A young man in his late teens stood in the doorway. His skin was tanned, and his eyes were lined with kohl. Was it natural to have lavender eyes? His choice of clothing was also rather eccentric. A loose lavender crop-top with gold chains hanging off of it, and black cargo pants adorned his rather slim, yet muscular figure. To top it all off, he wore enough gold jewelry to sink a cruise-liner. His hair was bleach-blond, and his face wore a scowl.

"Whatever you're selling, we don't want it."

"Pardon the intrusion, but we're your next-door neighbors, and we just, well, wanted to welcome you to the community," Mr. Yagami said formally.

The boy's expression lifted slightly. "Oh! So you're our new neighbors! Please, come in. Er, wait, hold on," turning around, he yelled, "_TOMB ROBBER, PHARAOH, AND PSYCHOMANIAC, WE HAVE GUESTS OVER SO GET BACK TO YOUR SOUL ROOMS NOW!"_

The Yagamis stared at the boy, confused. What language was that? It certainly wasn't Japanese, or English for that matter. They didn't know, of course, that the boy had been speaking in the tongue of the Ancient Egyptians. Whatever he had said, however, seemed to have shut up whoever was in there, because the arguing immediately ceased. The boy turned back towards them and smiled sheepishly.

"Er, hehe, sorry about that. Please, do come in!"

They were lead through a spacious kitchen and into a well furnished living room. Inviting them to sit, the boy, vanished upstairs, no doubt to get the other five friends that Ryuk had mentioned. However, he returned with only two others. For some reason this made Ryuk chuckle.

"So sorry, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Malik Ishtar, formerly of Cairo, Egypt. This here's Mutou Yuugi, and Bakura, Ryou, both from Domino City in Honshu."

The aforementioned boys piped up greetings. Their looks were almost more eccentric than Malik's.

The boy named Ryou had long white hair that reached to the middle of his back, pale alabaster skin, and soft, doe-brown eyes. At first glance, Raito almost thought he was a girl. His clothing was more normal than his friends'. He wore a simple blue and white striped T-shirt, along with khaki-colored jeans. Around his neck hung a curious pendant, looking like a ring with a triangle in the middle. The triangle had an eye on it, and sharp kunai-shaped things hung around the outside of the ring. It had a distinct Egyptian look about it.

The last boy was the definitely the strangest of all. He was almost a whole foot shorter than his friends, but his hair made up for his lack of height, standing straight up from his head. The tips were red, and the rest was black, save for a few blond bangs that hung limply around his cherubic face. His eyes were childishly large, and a shocking amethyst color. He wore a rather abundant amount of leather and buckles, topped off with a blue blazer. Yugi, too, wore an Egyptian pendant, in the shape of an upside-down pyramid with an eye in the center.

To sum up, none of these boys looked like they had been capable of causing the previous racket. Raito spoke up.

"Does anyone else live here? An acquaintance of mine said that there were six of you."

The nervous look that flashed between them was so brief that Raito almost missed it. Key word being 'almost'. "Er, really? Where'd you hear that? There's only the three of us in this house!" Yugi piped up somewhat nervously.

Raito's eyes narrowed. They were hiding something, and he was going to find out what.

* * *

(1) Yes, I know, very cliché. I've seen it in like 3 HP/YGO crossovers, but I just couldn't resist, and this is Death Note after all!

Y-n-A: O_O _–gulp-_ so how bad was it? Or how good? I've never finished watching the Death Note series, I made it just to the first or second episode with Near and Mellow. Then I skipped to the last episode and watched Righto die (spoiler) xD. If you ask me, L was cooler than them (Near and Mellow, Righto will always pwn all!). Good thing the time set of this is when L is still alive (spoiler). I'm sorry if any of you think I made Righto too panicky, but hey, even if I were as level-headed as him, I'd still panic if I had been found out by a complete stranger!

Righto: Please review! The more reviews the sooner the update! Y-n-A may not have written the next chapter yet, but I tell you that girl writes like the wind! No prewrite, no brainstorming, she just makes it up as she goes along! At least 4 reviews and she'll post!

Yugi: Y-n-A will give you cyber smoothies if you do! ^_^


	2. Realization

Y-n-A: Hey there, everybody! Looks like I finally got four reviews! So this chapter is dedicated to all those who were kind enough to actually REVIEW instead of just add it onto their Alerts list and be done with it. Authors want to know what you think!

Disclaimer: I always forget to put this…and also, you know I do not own Death Note or Yu-Gi-Oh! Because: a)Yami is gone and b)Raito is dead.

This means they are speaking in Egyptian.

/Yugi to Yami/

//Yami to Yugi//

:Ryou to Bakura:

::Bakura to Ryou::

(Malik to Marik)

((Marik to Malik))

* * *

Raito was pissed. In fact, pissed was an understatement. He was down right FURIOUS. No matter how many logical explanations he came up with, each still seemed unlikelier than the last. What was it that those three teens were hiding? He knew they were hiding _something_, Ryuk's redundant chuckling was solid proof of that. But why had he said that there were _six _teens? There were only three, anyone could see that. Unless…maybe they had spirits? Nah, it couldn't be. _But then again…_

The evening had been fun, Raito admitted to himself. Yugi, Ryou, and Malik had seemed like nice people, if not rather odd. Sayu had nearly freaked when she found out that three of the top five Duel Monsters duelists in the world were living just next door. She loved that card game, and had a deck of her own. Raito himself had a deck, but it was only because Sayu had begged him to get one. He never played, except once Sayu had challenged him and he had beaten her in five turns flat.

There was also those strange Egyptian trinkets they had. Aside from Yugi and Ryou, Malik also had a curious-looking golden scepter, with the same eye design on it. If Raito didn't know any better, he'd say they were a set. But whenever he asked about them they would either change the subject or pretend they hadn't heard him.

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_Raito couldn't take it any longer. So he just said it._

"_Excuse me, but those gold items of yours, they look like a set."_

_Ryou abruptly stopped cooking, and, ignoring the now smoking barbeque ribs, he turned._

"_Oh, um, what, you mean this?" he asked nervously, indicating his necklace. "Uh, yes, they are sort of a set. Oh, um would you like some more ribs?"_

_Raito politely declined and left the matter alone…for now. Suddenly he heard Malik's shout,_

"_RYOU! THE RIBS ARE BURNING!!!"_

_~end Flashback~

* * *

_

He had kept trying to ask the others, but apparently they had taken a leaf out of Ryou's book and ignored the question.

What was even worse was that Ryuk knew exactly what was going on. His incessant chuckling was solid proof of that. But no matter how much Raito pestered him, and even threatened to never give him anymore apples, he had simply shook his head and said,

"It's not my secret to tell."

Raito's head connected with the desktop. As much as he hated to admit it, he was at his wit's end. He hadn't even killed off any criminals today, he was so tense.

He, the great Yagami Raito, valedictorian (if you didn't count L) of the best university in Japan, had been stumped by three mere teenagers.

Raito trudged determinedly across the campus. As it turned out, all three of the new neighbors had transferred into the university, into HIS homeroom. He had tried to use the opportunity to try and 'befriend' them, and they had welcomed him with open arms. Only thing was, they still wouldn't tell him about their items.

Maybe, Raito thought, maybe I'm just overreacting. Maybe the items they have have nothing to do with anything at all. Maybe, just _maybe_…

"Hey, shrimp!"

Raito turned to find Ryou glaring challengingly at Yugi. That's odd, since when have Bakura's eyes been russet? He thought they had been brown.

"Shrimp, I want a tennis game with you. Now!"

Okay, that was definitely not like Ryou. He was usually so kind and gentle, why the sudden competitive-ness?

"Heh, you're on, Tomb Robber!"

Raito tilted his head. What had Yugi called Ryou? And was it just him, or did you seem taller? He couldn't really tell, his back was to him. Also, his voice had changed, but it wasn't really noticeable unless you were listening closely. That voice…there was something familiar about it. He followed them into the tennis courts, along with Malik, who was smiling in a really uncharacteristically sadistic way.

"You haven't got a chance, Bakura! They Pharaoh'll wipe the floor with ya!"

Raito was getting more and more confused by the second. Why did Malik all of a sudden refer to Ryou by his surname? And why did he call Yugi 'the Pharaoh'? He made a mental note to ask about it later. He turned his attention to the game. His eyes widened.

They were good! No, make that great! He didn't know that Ryou was an athlete, and he thought Yugi was only good at board games and card games! Once again, he was wrong. Yugi seemed to be at ease here on the court, and the same went for Ryou. The ball traveled between them at amazing speeds, and neither were even breaking a sweat!

The furious game had already attracted a crowd. 'Oohs' and 'Aaahs' were heard, and an onslaught of giggling was released by a group of giddy girls across the court.

Finally, Yugi scored, making the score 15-0. To say Bakura was pissed was an understatement. As the self-appointed ref, Malik blew the whistle (where the hell did he get a whistle?), signaling a break.

"Whew! That took longer than I thought!"

Yugi made his way towards Raito, chugging down a bottle of water. Raito blinked. Had Yugi been wearing _leather_ _pants_ the whole game? There was something different about him, something that Raito couldn't put his finger on. Yugi seemed so much more confident all of a sudden, and he could've sworn he was a few inches taller. As 'Yugi' turned to look at him, his eyes widened and he uttered a barely audible gasp.

Yugi's eyes were now slanted and colored a blood-red. Much different from the round, innocent orbs that Raito had seen before the game. What was more, Raito only knew one other person with eyes like that…and those bangs of his were starting to look awfully familiar.

Before he could open his mouth, 'Yugi' smirked. "I told you that we would meet again," he whispered, before sauntering back onto the tennis court, leaving a thunderstruck Raito behind…again.

/Yami, do you know him?/

//Of course I know him, Aibou, we met yesterday, remember?//

/You know that's not what I meant./

Yami smirked, bending his knees, holding the racket in ready position.

//Let's discuss this later. The others need to hear this.//

* * *

Bakura was still in a sour mood at the end of the day, having lost the tennis match to Yami, 15-50(1). Grumbling in his soul room, he refused to come out for the remainder of the day.

When they finally got home, Yami gathered everyone into the living room for 'an important announcement'. There were some grumblings about this, mostly from Bakura and Marik, complaining about 'being hungry'.

The Yamis separated from their Lights. Pacing the room in his now corporeal body, Yami began his 'announcement'.

"Now, I assume that all of you have heard of Kira."

Bakura snorted. "No duh. Isn't he the one who's killing off criminals like, worldwide or something?"

Yami nodded, then resumed his pacing.

"So, what's up? Why the sudden interest?" asked Malik, idling fingering Mariks hair.

"I have reason to believe that our dear neighbor Raito is Kira."

A stunned silence befell the group. Then…

"BWAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Yami rolled his eyes. He had expected this reaction from the lowly Tomb Robber and Keeper. But still, they were so predictable…

"Oh please! You think that that little push-over know-it-all next door is KIRA?" Marik exclaimed, clutching his stomach as he fought for air.

"Where's the proof of that?" asked Bakura.

Yami then went on to explain about that day on the bus, and the criminal who got hit by the car. He explained about how Raito had seemed strangely satisfied with the guy's death, and about how the criminal had gone crazy in the car, pointing at something no one else could see, after touching a crumpled bit of paper dropped by Raito on 'accident'.

"But _I_ saw what he was looking at," Yami declared. "He was looking at some sort of monster. A monster with yellow and red eyes. A monster with a body like a skeleton. A Shinigami."

Another stunned silence, which was soon broken by a snort.

"Psh, a _Shinigami_? Are you kidding? A Death God? Those things don't exist, they're just tales to scare little kids so that they'll go to bed."

"Tell me, Tomb Robber. Are we real? Are the Millennium Items real? Are Duel Monsters real? Is _magic_ real?" Yami hissed out the last sentence, his face inches from Bakura's. "If you have a better explanation, then let's hear it."

Ryou finally spoke up. "It does sort of make sense, yami."

Bakura rounded on Ryou, "Who's side are you on?"

"No one's," declared Ryou. "I'm just saying that what Yami said makes sense. After all, Raito does seem rather strange."

"But he doesn't seem the kind to _kill_ people!" Yugi said, eyes troubled.

"You know who he reminds me of?" Malik suddenly spoke up. Everyone looks at him questioningly. "Kaiba. He's smart, handsome, popular, logical, and athletic. The only difference is that he actually apologizes to people that he bumps into."

Everybody laughed, the tense atmosphere lifting slightly.

"But still, we should keep our eye out for the Shinigami, just in case. I've seen him following Raito around, maybe Raito's his master or something," Yami said, and with that Ryou left to prepare dinner.

"Heeey, now that you mention it, I do remember seeing some kind of freak monster in the corner of the living room when the Yagamis were here…" Malik said. "I thought I was seeing things at first, because when I looked again, it was gone."

"Well, that just proves Yami's theory. I'm not sure if Raito-kun is Kira or not, but it looks like he definitely has a Shinigami following him around," Yugi said.

"Mmhmm!" everybody nodded.

* * *

Dinner that night was a rowdy affair. Bakura had apparently 'slipped' and spilled his drink on Yami's shirt. Yami in turn retaliated by taking Bakura's bowl of miso soup and dumping it on his head. Marik, who had thought the whole thing extremely amusing, took the fish eggs from his sushi and, using his spoon, had lobbed them at Bakura, who ducked. The eggs hit Yugi smack on the forehead. Yami had rounded on the unfortunate Tomb Keeper, and…well…let's just say that when it was all over, Ryou had to stay up until eleven 'o clock cleaning up the mess, while the rest all took showers.

* * *

Yawning, Yugi curled up next to Yami on the bed. The moonlight washed over him, throwing his handsome features into even more relief.

/Yami?/

//Yes, Aibou?//

/What if Raito really is Kira?/

//Then we'll have to stop him, at all costs.//

/At all costs, no matter what? He has good intentions/

//He still cannot be allowed to continue. I am Master of the Shadows, the realm that balances both Light and Dark. It's my duty to maintain that balance.//

/Okay then. Just don't hurt him too much./

//Of course, Aibou.//

/Goodnight, Yami/

Yami smiled, shifting so that he was facing his Light, and gently brushed a stray bang from his closed eyes. "Good night, Tenshi."

* * *

Y-n-A: Phew! Another six pages done! I told you I made it up as I typed! I did this all in one day! I'm posting chapters like a copying machine copies paper! xD I hope it wasn't too bad, _-gulps nervously-_

Yugi: Please review! Another 4 and she'll post again!

Bakura: We're glad you're enjoying it so far! (which isn't saying much considering she's only written two chapters)

Ryou: Bakura! Stop discouraging the authoress, she's already discouraged enough as it is!

Malik: Ahem, not that she's discouraged because of all of you readers, its just that she's still waiting the that one FLAMING review to come, even though it doesn't look like it's coming anytime soon.

Y-n-A: B-BUT, IT'S GOTTA COME!!! It wouldn't be write if no one didn't like my story! It's not natural, i-it's not, I'm not t-that good of a----

Yami: Shhh, just calm down already!

Yugi: Think of it this way, at least it means that everyone likes your story so far!

Ryou: Yeah, who knows, maybe you won't even get a flame!

Y-n-A: Aaaww, thanks you guys! _–glomps both of them- _You two are so KAWAII!!!

Yami and Bakura: _-glares at Yami-no-Angel, the eye of Horus shining on their foreheads-_

Y-n-A: Eep! Okay, okay, calm down! I'm not trying to steal your boyfriends or anything, gosh!

Yami and Bakura: _-are still glaring at Y-n-A-_

Y-n-A: I think I'll go hide under my bed now! _-scampers away-_

Marik: _-evil grin- _Once again, please review! Or else I'll make it so tha---

Malik: Yami, please don't finish that line, you'll scare away the readers.


	3. L

Y-n-A: OMG, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while! To you guys, 'a while' would probably be like a few months, but to me, that's too long to keep someone waiting! So here I am, with another chapter approximately one week from the last.

Once I got an email to a fanfic that I didn't remember the plot of, and I had to go back and re-read it…that's why I like fast updates. ^_^

/Yugi to Yami/

//Yami to Yugi//

:Ryou to Bakura:

::Bakura to Ryou::

(Malik to Marik)

((Marik to Malik))

[Hikari to Hikari]

{Yami to Yami}

~Group Chat! xD~

Malik: Now on with the story!

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and early. Sunlight filtered onto the cherubi face of one Yugi Mutou, who was currently curled up against his yami, snoring softly.

Crimson eyes opened. So as not to wake his Light, Yami eased himself slowly out of bed and replaced his body with a pillow. Yugi snuggled into it, seemingly not knowing the difference. Yami quickly grabbed a pair of black leather pants from the drawers, along with a cropped sand-colored top with the Eye of Wadjet on it in gold thread. With that, he entered the bathroom and started the shower.

Yugi blearily opened his eyes, having woken from the noise of the shower. His eyes widened as he found himself hugging Yami's pillow instead of Yami, and realized he must have already gotten up.

"Penny for your thoughts, Aibou?"

Yugi turned his head to meet Yami leaning against the bathroom doorframe, in just his pants and no shirt. He blushed.

"I know I'm handsome, but you should really stop drooling and get dressed. It's almost time for school, and I think Ryou's already done cooking breakfast."

"Ryou's always up at the crack of dawn," Yugi muttered as he snatched a pair of form-fitting jeans and a white button-down tee.

Suddenly, a bout of creative cursing in a mixture of Arabic, Egyptian, and Japanese drifted down the hallway. Yami smirked.

"Looks like the Tomb Keeper fell off the bed. Again."

* * *

Raito stretched lazily as he slowly opened his eyes, lids still heavy with sleep. He had been up good part of the night, writing names in his Death Note. He had considered writing their neighbor's names, but, concluding that they hadn't really done anything wrong…yet, he would let them be.

* * *

The day had gone rather well for both parties. Raito found himself walking across the campus towards the courtyard with Yugi, Ryou, and Malik. They talked and chatted about this and that, the topic switching over to Duel Monsters more than once. When they got to the courtyard, Raito heard an excited shriek.

"RAITO-KUN!!!"

Raito groaned inwardly. There was only one person who's voice was that shrill and annoying. He turned and was almost thrown off his feet by the huge glomp that Misa Amane gave him. She giggled and looked up at him, eyes shining.

"Where have you been, Raito-kun? I haven't heard from you in almost a week! I tried to visit you at the university, but I always seemed to miss you. On top of that, I have sooo many photo shoots to go to! Ugh, life's no fun without you, Raito!"

It took a lot of effort on Raito's part not to blush. Technically he was Misa's boyfriend, but only because she threatened to use her Shinigami Eyes to kill any other girl he hung out with. She had her uses though, such as finding out the names of people Raito didn't know, but had to kill. Which reminded him, he still hadn't asked her what L's name was.

Snickers were heard behind him, and Raito turned to find Malik, Ryou, and Yugi hiding smiles behind their hands. He had the grace to flush this time. Suddenly, Misa seemed to notice the others.

"Oh! Who are your new friends Raito-kun? I've never seen them before!"

"Oh, my apologies! I'm Yugi Mutou, and this here's Ryou Bakura and Malik Ishtar. Nice to meet you…"

"Call me Misa! Misa Amane!" she piped up.

"Hey, I know you! Aren't you that girl model who was on the cover of that magazine that Ryou found in his Biology desk?"

Raito answered for Misa this time. "Misa's a full-time model. She does everything from photo-shoots to television shows."

Yugi's eyes lit up. "Really? Wow, that's so cool! I've always wondered what it was like to be a model! Everyone says I'm adorable and all, and could be a model if I wanted, but I really don't believe them."

"Aw, you have to put more faith in yourself, Yugi-_kun_! Anyone with a face like your's could seduce a saint!" 'Ryou' laughed. Yugi glared at him.

"Ha ha, very funny, _Ryou_."

Raito decided to intervene. "Um, how about we all go out to eat tonight? My treat."

Misa's eyes shined. "Oooh, that would be fantastic Raito-kun! Pick me up at 6:00?"

"Sure," turning to the others. "What about you guys? Coming?"

"We'd love to!" Yugi piped up eagerly.

* * *

Yami, Bakura, and Marik wandered aimlessly around the city, with no particular destination in mind. They had separated from their hikaris, leaving them at home. Although it had taken some time to convince them that they weren't off to cause chaos. Somehow, though, they found themselves at none other than…the police station.

"Why is it you guys always end up here even when we're NOT in trouble?" Yami marveled sarcastically. Bakura and Marik glared at him.

"Well, excuse us, little-miss-perfect-Pharaoh! YOU were the one leading us the whole time!"

"I was NOT! And nobody asked you guys to follow me in the first place!"

"Too preoccupied, eh? What were you doing, making out with your Hikari in your soulroom while you were walking or something?" Bakura teased, a malevolent glint in his eye. Yami blushed a deep red. (1)

"Mind your own business, Tomb Robber! A-and don't jump to conclusions!"

Marik and Bakura snickered; the look on Yami's face said all. Still cackling sadistically, the pair turned to go when the glass doors of the police station slid open, and out came Mr. Yagami.

Soichiro Yagami, police chief of the Kantou Region(1), was, to say the least, surprised at finding his three new neighbors in front of his station. Had Yugi always been that tall? And did Malik gel his hair or something, it was a lot spikier than usual. He shrugged these thoughts aside; it wasn't important.

"Hello, Mutou-san, Bakura-san, Malik-san. I trust you have been well?" he said.

Yami was first to recover from the initial shock, and answered. "Uh, yes, we have been very well, thank you Yagami-san. University has been, er, interesting, to say the least."

Soichiro chuckled. Kids these days, they had no appreciation of education whatsoever. All the teachers could drop dead and die for all they cared.

"Why don't I give you kids a tour of the station? We have a world-class detective here who's working on the Kira case."

This perked up the teens' interest. "Do you mean the famous L?" Bakura questioned eagerly. Soichiro nodded, and the teens quickly agreed to the tour.

* * *

"And this here's the conference room, but we only use it when the case is an emergency. Sadly, we've been using it a lot lately, ever since Kira rose to power."

The yamis had been relatively quiet throughout the tour, only asking a stray question here and there. They were waiting for Mr. Yagami to take them to _that_ room, the room that held the person who was doing everything in his power to capture and expose Kira. And the fact that he was here, of all places, in the small remote Kantou Region, only served to heighten their suspicions of Raito Yagami.

"And this, is the computer room where L resides for the better part of the day," Mr. Yagami said, gesturing them inside.

The room was large and airy, and what looked like a giant computer screen occupied one end, with various smaller screens alongside it. The counter underneath was filled with all sorts of knobs and buttons. At the center was a chair, it's back turned to them. As the yamis stared at it, a pale, white-clad arm protruded out of the side, taking a cherry from a bowl on the counter. Mr. Yagami cleared his throat.

"Ahem, um, Ryuuzaki-sama, we have guests. They are my new neighbors, so I gave them a tour of the station."

The chair turned slowly towards them. The yamis waited with baited breath, expecting a tall, dark, and mysterious man, with sunglasses and a black trenchcoat. Maybe even wearing a bowler hat of some sort, but instead they were faced with…

Bakura, Yami, and Marik stared at the figure before him. He was, to say the least, not what they expected.

Crouched in a most unsightly way on the chair, was…a man, not much older than themselves. His skin was paler than Bakura's almost white, lacking the healthy red tinge that Ryou and his yami had on their cheeks. His eyes were half-lidded, black, and with dark shadows underneath them. He could probably have passed for a dead man if he was ever found asleep. His clothes were simple: a plain white shirt and faded blue jeans, no shoes or socks. The clothes looked like they had never been changed, either. A mop of messy black hair topped the pale head.

"Hello. I am L, but you can call me Ryuuzaki," he said, voice devoid of any emotion. The yamis could only stare. Even Yami had nothing to say.

"You should be honored to have the privilege of meeting Ryuuzaki. Most of the world know him only by a white screen with a black 'L' on it," Mr. Yagami intervened.

Yami, once again being the first to regain his senses, bowed and introduced himself (as Yugi Mutou of course). The others, having snapped out of their daze as well, followed suit.

Ryuuzaki eyed them with much interest. Such peculiar people—they have moved in next to Raito…maybe they know something…thoughts running through his head, he beckoned them closer. They obeyed, though somewhat hesitantly (Yami) and reluctantly (Bakura and Marik). Ryuuzaki ordered the other agents out of the room. "I need to speak with these three in private."

The agents left somewhat reluctantly, as though the three young teens might take the chance to jump their boss, but they left nonetheless. L turned to the befuddled teenagers.

"So tell me, what do you think of Raito Yagami?"

The question was unexpected, abrupt. It caught the yami's off guard, and they fumbled with their answers. Yami (once again) spoke first.

"He seems like a nice guy. Very smart and cunning…I guess."

"He's athletic too. Hell will probably freeze over before we find something that he _can't_ do," Bakura put in.

"Uh…what he said," Marik said somewhat stupidly, but hey, there really wasn't much else to say.

Ryuuzaki nodded. "I see. Hmmm," he turned back towards the computer screen. "Is there anything…strange, about him? Aside from the fact that he is unnaturally intelligent?"

The yamis exchanged glances.

{_He knows._} They all thought to each other simultaneously. Yami turned back to Ryuuzaki.

"Why? Is he…a suspect?" L looked surprised that they had figured it out so quickly.

"Yes, he is. My top suspect. However, as much as I hate to admit it, it is becoming increasingly difficult to gather evidence on him. He's tricky, that one."

Bakura's eyes narrowed. So what Yami said had been true after all.

{What are you thinking, Tomb Robber?} Yami interjected through the mind link.

Bakura smirked. {I'm just surprised that you were right for once!} Marik chuckled through the link.

{And what in Ra's name is THAT supposed to mean?} Yami glowered at them. They just snickered. Yami rolled his eyes and turned back to Ryuuzaki.

"I see great minds think alike," he smirked. "We are also under the impression that Raito is guilty."

Ryuuzaki's interest peaked. No one else suspected Raito. Everyone thought he was a charming young man. But these three…these three saw through the charade, somehow. He decided to find out more.

"And what made you come to that conclusion?"

The teens tensed. They glanced at each other.

{Should we tell him? About the Shinigami?} asked Yami.

{But what if he asks us HOW we can see it? We'll have to spill out the whole story! And then he'll probably have us carted off to the asylum.} Bakura scoffed.

{What else can we do? I thought the Pharaoh wanted to see that justice was served. That can't happen if we have a mad murderer on the loose killing people without even touching them!} Marik interjected. {Not that I care.} he added hastily.

Yami's eyes narrowed. {Maybe…we'll offer him a deal. He has to gain our trust first. We'll ask to join the agency. He can't object to that. Also, we might want to warn him that Raito already suspects that we know his secret. He could have us killed, simply because he knows our names and faces.}

{Or our lights. It's their faces that he knows better, not to mention we're carrying their names as well.} Bakura added.

{You're right. Hmmm…we'll have to take control of our hikaris more often then, let Raito get used to seeing OUR faces more than theirs. That way, if he DOES decide to kill us, he'll use their names, but our faces. So whatever he can do won't work.}

{That's an idea,} Marik thought. {But how _does_ he kill people anyways?} He was met with silence.

Ryuuzaki, meanwhile, watched the teens silently. How strange, they weren't talking, but judging from the way their facial expressions keep changing, they seemed to be having some sort of conversation. Were they telepathic or something? He made a note to check it out later.

The yamis turned back to the detective. Bakura spoke,

"Alright, we'll tell you why we suspect Raito, but you'll have to earn the information first."

Ryuuzaki's eyebrows raised. Yami answered the unspoken question.

"We'd like to join the Kira project," he interjected. "If we find that the case is worth our input, we'll tell you what we know."

"The information we give is not to be taken lightly," Marik added, solemn for once.

Ryuuzaki contemplated this. He had nothing to lose, he supposed, but everything to gain. If these boys know something, it could benefit the entire world, and help expose Kira. What they know must be serious, too, judging from the bargain that they were making. He decided.

"Alright, consider yourselves hired."

The yamis smirked at each other. This was going to be an interesting year indeed.

* * *

(1) I just realized that Yami couldn't make out with Yugi while he's at home....but I'm too lazy to change it, so let's just say that they were both zoning out and met in their soul rooms.

Y-n-A: Finally! Done! Sorry, I had two projects due that I hadn't even started, so I had to finish that first. Not to mention I'm still failing band.  This chapter was slightly shorter than the others, believe it or not, even though it took me way longer to finish.

Bakura: It looks likes things are going to get exciting soon! –grins maniacally-

Y-n-A: You bet!

Ryou: -blinks cutely- Please review!

Y-n-A: When reviews reach 15, I'll update again! Plus I'll give you all cyber L plushies!!! xD


	4. A Night Out

**Y-n-A:** Here's chapter four. I'm running out of ideas FAST. I guess there really is something to be said for prewriting. This chapter is slightly filler, plus it's an excuse to get another one of my favorite characters into the story. xD

**L: **Things were about to get most interesting…hmm…too bad.

**Y-n-A: **Hey! I said I was _almost_ out of ideas! I still have a brain, and therefore can keep writing for another couple chapters before I go totally blank. When that happens, please send me PMs for ideas for the plot. Don't review because in case there are people out there who like looking at reviews, it won't spoil the plot, if I decide to use one of your ideas.

Since Mello and Near don't exist yet, there really won't be any action to keep the Yamis entertained… x.x and that's not a good thing.

**Marik and Bakura:** You bet it's not!

**Yami: **_-rolls eyes- _Whatever…

/Yugi to Yami/

//Yami to Yugi//

:Ryou to Bakura:

::Bakura to Ryou::

(Malik to Marik)

((Marik to Malik))

-Hikari to Hikari-

{Yami to Yami}

~Group Chat!~

**Disclaimer: **Once again, if I owned Yu-Gi-Oh! or Death Note, a)Yami wouldn't be gone and b) Raito wouldn't be dead. (oops, did I just say that out loud? Now I've spoiled it for you alls! xD) YGO belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, and Death Note belongs to…whoever created Death Note.

**Warning: **Slight Yaoi/Shonen-ai. Don't like, don't read. Not graphic. Everything is mostly 'implied', as you will see in the next two paragraphs.

* * *

When the Yamis got home, they immediately informed their Lights of the turn of events. To say the least, the Hikaris were worried about the Yagamis. What if Raito killed his own father in order to stay unexposed? He wouldn't do that, would he? He didn't seem the type to kill innocent people.

The Hikaris also agreed that the Yamis should go to the dinner, because a) they needed Raito to get used to the 'wrong' faces, and b) the Hikaris, having arrived rather late in the school year, had to catch up on homework. So long as they don't get caught by Raito's family, they should be fine. The Yamis had not been particularly happy with leaving their Lights home alone, and wasted much time by giving 'unnecessarily' long good-byes that the author will not include in this story, so please use your own sick imagination. (cough cough)

* * *

Raito sighed with impatience. It was just his luck that his 'girlfriend' happened to be a full-time model. Where the hell was she? It was already ten past seven, dammit!

Finally, Misa came sprinting out the double doors of the studio.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go pick up the others!"

Raito sighed exasperatedly. "I was waiting for—" but Misa had already gotten into the car. "—you…nevermind," he quickly followed after her.

* * *

Raito couldn't help it. He stared. 'Yugi' and his friends had been waiting for him outside the house. Needless to say, they weren't exactly dressed appropriately for a night out at a fancy restaurant.

'Malik' was dressed in a tight leather tank top and tan cargo pants. It would've been normal enough, had it not been for the fact that he was wearing, believe it or not, even MORE gold jewelry than he usually wore. Gold armbands encircled his biceps and wrists, not to mention his neck. He had switched his earrings for bigger ones as well. Did he gel his hair, too? It seemed…wilder than usual. Plus, he was carrying that god-forsaken scepter in his belt.

'Ryou' was dressed slightly more normally. The only thing odd about his appearance was that he wore a long, black, leather trench coat over his blue striped shirt and white jeans. It made him look rather intimidating. Not to mention the fact that he had also seemed to have gelled his hair, and was wearing a rather uncharacteristic smirk. Raito shivered involuntarily – his eyes were russet-colored again. He, too, was wearing that odd ring-shaped pendent of his.

'Yugi' was the one that was dressed the most sporadically. Leather, leather, and more leather! Leather tank, leather pants, leather collar, leather wrist bands (studded with silver)…and leather buckled boots! Did he have _anything_ aside from leather in his wardrobe, for Shinigami's sake? To top it all off was an assortment of belts and buckles draped over his thin and rather feministic waist. Add some kohl and ankh earrings, plus the oversized pyramid pendent on a chain, and you've got your average Egyptian-Japanese-Goth-Punk-looking 'Yugi'.

What ticked off Raito the most, however, was that 'Yugi's' eyes were once again the brilliant and alluring crimson eyes of the stranger he had met. No, he _was_ the stranger Raito had met, there was no question. His words that day during the tennis match were still engraved into Raito's mind, "_I told you we'd meet again…"_

"Wow, you guys look absolutely _stunning_!" Misa exclaimed. She sounded like she meant it, too. 'Ryou' smirked.

"Why of course!" he said. Raito raised his eyebrows. That did _not _sound like Ryou at all.

"Is this what you guys usually wear on a night out?" he asked.

"Yup!" they all said in unison. Raito sweat-dropped.

* * *

Dinner that night was a rowdy affair. The yamis, particularly Bakura and Marik, thought it would be funny to flirt with the waitresses, and then make fun of them to their faces. Yami was only dragged into it because one of the waitresses happened to recognize him from a Duel Monsters magazine and screamed out his name to the whole friggin' restaurant, causing Yami to be stampeded by rabid fangirls. Bakura and Malik had thought it was all in good fun, and wouldn't stop teasing the Pharaoh afterwards. Yami, on the other hand, had lost several of his buckles and an armband. He almost had one of his earlobes torn as well when one of the girls had made a grab for his ankh earring, and was currently rubbing it in irritation.

All through the incident, Raito and Misa had been sweat-dropping.

* * *

They wandered randomly through Takahashi (A/N: DON'T ASK) Park. The night was still young, it was only about 7:30, since they had to leave the restaurant in a hurry, for obvious reasons. The air was rather chilly, and the teens could all sense a storm brewing.

"Oh, by the way, Raito, we met your father today," Yami said, without turning to look at him. Raito was surprised.

"Really, where?"

"In front of the police station. We had decided to go exploring the city, and somehow ended up there, even though Ba—Ryou and Malik hadn't so much as hijacked a single car."

"Hey!"

Raito nodded, showing that he understood. When had Ryou and Malik ever hijacked cars, anyway? "Did he give you a tour of the station? He usually does that to teenagers who 'happen' to show up."

Yami nodded. "He did, in fact." Raito chuckled. _Typical Dad, _he thought. What Yami said next however made his blood run cold. "He also introduced us to…Ryuuzaki-san."

Raito froze momentarily, and had to think before he started walking again. He didn't want to draw attention to himself. They had met L?! Impossible! Why had Dad introduced them? Did L say anything about his suspicions about Raito to them? Had they talked at all, or did they just take a peek? Thoughts whirling through his head, he almost didn't catch Yami's next statement. Keyword being 'almost.' What he heard made him panic even more.

"Ryuuzaki also persuaded Chief Yagami to let us join the Kira hunt," Yami stated nonchalantly. Bakura and Marik snickered knowingly, eying Raito out of the corner of their eyes.

Raito's brain froze. Misa glanced at him worriedly; after all, she knew about him being Kira, and she being the second Kira didn't help matters.

They had joined the Kira hunt? No! This wasn't supposed to happen! Ryuuzaki already suspected him and Misa, and he knew for a fact that 'Yugi' knew his secret! What if they had told Ryuuzaki? This was NOT good…and---shit! 'Yugi' knows that he can kill people in other ways than just heart attacks as well! How else would he have figured out his connection to the car crash that day on the bus? Now they'll be able to link the criminal's death to Raito's date with Misa! Raito's panicked mind caused him to momentarily zone out, until Misa nudged him with her elbow.

"Hey, want to go to the arcade? It's the closest place from here, plus it's beginning to storm!"

Raito walked the rest of the way to the arcade in a thoughtful daze, not joining in the conversation.

* * *

Truth be told, an arcade was NOT the ideal place for three Duel Monsters elite to be. The front of the store had seemed normal enough, what with the DDR, and shooting games, whatnot. The back, however, was completely devoted to Duel Monsters. The yamis realized too late that posters of them were plastered all over the walls. Needless to say, they were once again stampeded by fans. Raito and Misa had to practically drag the little kids off of them.

"Pharaoh! How the hell are we supposed to get out of this mess?" Marik wailed.

"Don't ask me, Tomb Keeper, this was all _your_ brilliant idea, after all!" Yami yelled while attempting to autograph three photos at once.

"This is great, just great. We'll be here all night if this keeps up!" Bakura moaned, signing his tenth duel monsters card.

They were all too distracted to notice the tall, white-clad figure striding confidently towards them, with a shorter, long raven-haired figure following close behind. They were too distracted to notice the hush that fell over the people in the arcade who were not intent on getting their autographs. In their haste to get out of the rain, they had rushed through the lobby, without bothering to look at the notice on the bulletin board, stating that a certain CEO was coming to visit the arcade to promote new Duel Monsters technology that very night…

* * *

To Be Continued…..

* * *

**Y-n-A: **MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I AM SO TOTALLY EEEVIIIIL!!!! FEAR ME!!!

**Yugi: **_-pouts- _You left us at a cliffie!!!

**Yami: **_-grumbles incoherently-_

**Y-n-A: **Aaawww, I didn't know you two were _that_ eager to meet your beau!

**Yugi and Yami: **_-stutters- W-WHAT?!?! HE IS NOT OUR BEAU!!! _

**Y-n-A: **Ha! You're blushing!!!!

**Yugi and Yami: **_-blush-_

**Y-n-A: **Geez, I didn't know you guys were Flareshipping fans! xD

**Yami: **THAT'S _IT_!!! _-steps forward menacingly, Eye of Horus shining on forehead-_

**Y-n-A: **Meep! _-is running around the room being chased by a furious Yami and heavily blushing but still angry Yugi. Bakura, Marik, and Malik are laughing in the background, while Ryou simply looks on, bemused-_

**Y-n-A: **WAAAAHHH!!!! RYOU!!!! HELP MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

**Ryou: **Sorry, you're on your own this time!

**Y-n-A: **TRAITOR!!! WAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!! _-continues running around the room until finally….-_

**Yami: **_BATSU GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -points at Yami-no-Angel-_

**Y-n-A: **_-slumps onto the floor, now a drooling soulless vegetable-_

**Raito: **_-has been watching the whole thing in amusement- _Aaaanyways! Please review! Next chapter might take awhile now that our dear authoress's mind is in the Shadow Realm!

**Marik: **She also apologizes for the shortness of the chapter. Heck, the author's notes are longer than the actual chapter! She just _had_ to leave it there to torture you!

**Bakura: **Of course, you can probably guess who's coming into the story next chapter! Also, please vote in Y-n-A's poll on her profile!!! She's getting bored of writing only one story at once, so it's up to YOU to decide which one she should start next!


	5. Enter: Stubborn Egotistical CEO

**Y-n-A: **Phew! Finally back from the Shadow Realm! And with a new chapter as well! I know all of you are DYING to find out what's gonna happen next! xD **PLEASE VOTE IN MY POLL!!! I'M GETTING BORED OF JUST WRITING ONE STORY AND I HAVE ALL THESE IDEAS CRAMMED INTO MY HEAD SO PLEASE HELP ME LET OUT AT LEAST ONE!!!**

**Marik: **_o/ And the SHIT, IS BANANAS! B-A-N-A-N-A-YEAH!!! THE __**SHIT**__, IS BANANAS! B-A-N-A-N-A-YEAH! o/_

**Everyone: **O_O

**Yugi: **Uh…I'm not sure I want to know this…but…why is Marik singing about bananas?

**Misa: **I think it's from that Gwen Stefani song….what's it called again? Plus I think he just likes the word 'shit' and 'bananas'. –_everybody sweatdrops-_

**Bakura: **Hollaback Girl

**Everyone: **_-turns to stare at the Tomb Robber-_

**Yami: **_-sighs- _I'm sure I'm going to regret asking this…but…_how _do you now that?

**Bakura: **_-starts whistling innocently-_

**Everyone: **_-sweatdrop-_

/Yugi to Yami/

//Yami to Yugi//

:Ryou to Bakura:

::Bakura to Ryou::

(Malik to Marik)

((Marik to Malik))

-Hikari to Hikari-

{Yami to Yami}

~Group Chat!~

**Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! (xD):**

_They were all too distracted to notice the tall, white-clad figure striding confidently towards them, with a shorter, long raven-haired figure following close behind. They were too distracted to notice the hush that fell over the people in the arcade who were not intent on getting their autographs. In their haste to get out of the rain, they had rushed through the lobby, without bothering to look at the notice on the bulletin board, stating that a CEO was coming to visit the arcade to promote new Duel Monsters technology that very night…_

**And now, the conclusion!**

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

The yamis froze in shock. _There's only one person I know with a voice THAT annoying, _Bakura thought. They whirled around, dislodging a few unfortunate fanboys/girls in the process. There suspicions were confirmed. "Kaiba!" exclaimed Yami. And indeed it was…

Seto Kaiba stood before them. He was wearing his usual outfit of a long, whippy white short-sleeved trenchcoat over a black long-sleeved turtle neck and black leather pants and boots. Small belts encircled his biceps and ankles, and metal armbands circled his wrists all the way up to just below his elbow. His chestnut hair was in its usual style, short and slicked down toward the nape of his neck. A heavy metal briefcase, which the yamis knew to be full of cards, was clutched in his hand. His blue eyes were as cold and heartless as ever.

Next to him, only coming up to about his waist, was Mokuba Kaiba. At age 13, he was extremely intelligent, being the Vice President of KaibaCorp. His long, dark, and messy hair fell down to the small of his back, and his eyes were a friendly blue-gray, sparkling with warmth and mischief. He had changed a lot, from being a spoiled brat who worshipped the ground his Onii-sama walked on, to a kind, thoughtful boy who was always eager to lend a helping hand. He was wearing his usual attire of a puffy yellow vest over a striped shirt, complete with jeans and sneakers.

Raito stared in disbelief. This was the great Seto Kaiba? Teenage CEO of the greatest multi-billion dollar gaming company the world has ever seen? And he was standing in this lowly city arcade like it was nothing! Raito had looked up to him ever since he was a boy, vowing that one day, he, too, would own his own billionaire company. Those dreams were fantasies from years past, however, and Raito was already satisfied with where he stood in society.

Misa's eyes widened. "OHMIGOD, YOU'RE REALLY SETO KAIBA!" she squealed. Kaiba's cold gaze turned onto her, and she didn't even flinch. "I've heard sooo much about you! Who hasn't? After all, you're like, THE richest person in the world!"

"Kaiba, what in Osiris's name are you doing here?" asked Marik, glaring at the 'former' owner of his Millennium Item. Kaiba turned back to his rivals.

"If you had been smart enough to read the notice outside, you would have known I was coming," he stated coolly. Mokuba sniggered behind his back. Marik glared at Kaiba; he did not like having his intelligence insulted.

"What for?" he demanded. Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"Again, if you had read the notice, you would've known that I am here to introduce the new version of the Duel Disc, called the Duel Disc v.2," he stated again.

"There's a new Duel Disk out?" Yami asked, intrigued. Mokuba smirked.

"Of course! I would've expected that you, at least, Yugi, would've kept up with the latest Duel Monsters news! It's Nii-sama's greatest invention yet!"

Kaiba turned toward the crowd that was now beginning to form. Many of the kids were staring, wide-eyed at the phenomenon before them. After all, it wasn't everyday that you got to see four of the best duelists in the world carrying out a conversation. Raito and Misa were beginning to feel uncomfortable to be included in the group, not being duelists.

"As you may know, I am here to introduce the latest in KaibaCorp dueling technology! I present to you, the Duel Disk v.2!" with that he opened his briefcase, which for once, did not contain cards. Instead, it now contained two designer Duel Disks. Instead of the customary blue, white, and red, these Duel Disks were different colors; one was golden, with a distinct Egyptian look about it, and the other was, surprise surprise, blue and white, with the imprint of the BEWD in the card slots. It was evident that the new Duel Disks were not only better, but customizable as well. The crowd's eyes widened, and 'Ooohs' and 'Aaahs' were heard.

Kaiba took out the golden duel-disk and tossed it to Yami, who just barely managed to catch it. "That's for you, free of charge," he said gruffly. When Yami just stood there, staring at the hieroglyphs engraved within the card slots as if entranced, didn't do anything, he snapped, "Well? What are you waiting for? Put it on and give a demonstration!" Yami jerked his head up and blinked rapidly. "Wha-? Oh, right." He fumbled with it for a moment, for it was rather difficult to figure out where the wrist clasp was hidden within the design, but eventually he was able to slide his deck into the deck-holder. A life point count shown in gold within a large Eye of Horus engraved on top of the deck-holder. He drew a card, and, sliding it into one of the slots, called out, "I summon Dark Magician Girl!"**(1)**.

And out popped…Dark Magician Girl, wearing her usual flirtatious smile. She blew a few kisses at the audience, and twirled her staff. The audience clapped, and wolf-whistles were heard throughout the din.

Kaiba smirked, "And that's not all! Behold, the true marvel of the Duel Disk v.2!" He turned to Yami, "Ask her a question!"

Yami blinked. "What?"

"I said to ask her a question! Say hi or something!"

Yami cocked his head, confused. "O…kay…" He turned to the Dark Magician Girl, who was now looking at him expectantly. "Uh…hi?"

Dark Magician Girl smiled. "Konnichiwa! My name is Mana!" The audience gasped. Yami blinked in astonishment. "You…can talk?" he stuttered. Bakura and Marik just stared at the attractive blond (THE GIRL, NOT YAMI, HE DOESN'T COUNT AS BLOND) in astonishment.

"Why of course! The Duel Disk v.2 allows all Duel Monsters to communicate with their masters, unless of course the monster itself is incapable of speech," Dark Magician Girl, no, _Mana_ explained.

Kaiba smirked. It was rare to see his rival so befuddled. He would treasure every moment of this. Mokuba turned back to the crowd, smirking. "And there you have it! The Duel Disk v.2! Now available at any game shop near you! Oh, and before I forget, ROLAND!" Into the shop rushed a man dressed in a stiff suit and sunglasses. He was pulling a rather large crate behind him on wheels. Mokuba turned to Bakura and Marik. "We've got duel disks for you, too. We already sent Joey one, he should be getting it sometime tonight. No doubt he'll email you the second he gets it!" And with that, he opened the crate, and pulled out two brand new Duel Disks.

Bakura immediately strapped his on after seeing that in was an Occult-themed duel disc, complete with a skull-shaped deck slot and ghoul engravings. It was colored a sinister purple and blue. He did not hesitate to summon his favorite monster, Dark Necrofear, and started conversing with her in low tones, her raspy voice barely audible above the noise the crowd was now making. Apparently the monster's name was Necrofia.

Marik himself, like Yami, also got one with an Egyptian design, though it was more based on the Winged Dragon of Ra than an overall theme. Gold-colored plating covered every visible inch, and the deck-holder was in the shape of Ra's beak. He started experimenting with his monsters, seeing which ones could talk and which couldn't.

Raito and Misa could only stare at the events unfolding before them with bemused expressions. When you had three elite Duelists as your friends, life sure was never boring!

* * *

It had took a lot of begging and persuasion on the yamis part (and a pair of extremely convincing puppy-dog-eyes from Mokuba) to get Seto Kaiba to come over to their place so that they could 'discuss' some 'important matters.' Since the Kaibas were staying in town anyways, this wasn't much of a problem, aside form the fact that Kaiba would rather spend as much time away from 'the geek squad' as possible. After dropping of Misa, then Raito, they walked across the lawn to their house, and, to Kaiba and Mokuba's confusion, rang the doorbell, as though someone else was in the house.

Bakura realized his mistake of ringing the doorbell a little too late. "_Kuso_, I forgot about-" but he never finished the sentence, for, at that moment, the door was opened by none other than the REAL Yugi Mutou. He glanced up and, realizing the situation, omitted a squeak. Kaiba's and Mokuba's eyes widened, and the latter uttered a small gasp.

Kaiba turned toward who he thought was 'Yugi'. "Mutou…what is the meaning of this?"

Yami smacked his hand against his forehead, and Marik banged his head repeatedly on the doorframe. Ra, were they were in for it now!

* * *

Yugi nervously led the Kaiba brothers into the living room, the yamis following close behind. Malik was sprawled on the couch, watching The Simpsons on TV, and Ryou was reading a novel.

Malik barely glanced up from the screen as he said, "Hey Yugi, Yami, Bakura, Marik, Kaiba, Moku-----HOLY MOTHER OF OSIRIS, IT'S KAIBA!!!" And with that he tumbled off the sofa in his haste to get up. Ryou looked up, eyes widening in surprise, and then horror when he realized that he was in plain view when the 'real' Ryou was supposed to be behind Kaiba. _Kuso_.

* * *

Seto Kaiba took in the astonishing sight before him. Two Yugis, two Ryous, and two Maliks. _Great, I'm hallucinating again_, was his first thought. But then, was he? Now that he thought about it, he seemed to have had quite a lot of hallucinations to pass for weariness and stress. Maybe there was some truth to the crap that Ishizu Ishtar had spewed during Battle City….nah, it couldn't be! There has to be a logical explanation for this! Come to think of it, the copies weren't even identical copies. The ones who had originally been at home had softer, kinder features, whereas the ones he met at the arcade had features that were cold, sharp, and confident. Despite this, Seto realized, he still recognized all of them.

The shorter Yugi he had seen outside of tournaments, within school, with his large amethyst orbs. The other Yugi, he also recognized. This was the same Yugi he dueled in Battle City, the same Yugi who's face was carved onto that ridiculous stone abomination hanging in the Domino Museum. The Yugi with eyes red as blood, which seemed to see straight through to your soul…

Seto also recognized both Ryous in very much the same way he recognized the 'Yugis'. The shorter, kind-looking one he had seen at school plenty of times, always sitting in the corner reading some sort of Shakespearian novel. The one he had met in the arcade he recalled seeing only once before though…Battle City. This was the Ryou that had dueled the other Yugi, and had almost won with his deck of horrors.

Malik Ishtar. The only time he had seen the straight-haired version of the teen was during Battle City finals, when he had falsely introduced himself as 'Namu'. But the one with wild hair he remembered very clearly. This was Malik's alter-ego, the split personality that he had somehow slipped into after the Mutt's duel with Rishid, who was at the time posing as Malik himself. At first he had just dismissed him as a schizophrenic maniac, but now…

Seto shook his head to clear the thoughts tumbling through his mind. He was looking too far into this, he thought. This was all just some sort of elaborate trick in order to humiliate him. He, the great Seto Kaiba, couldn't be doubting himself now, not after everything that he had seen but denied before.

The yamis and hikaris stared at the Kaiba brothers with something bordering between amusement, and exasperation. Mokuba was taking it all in pretty well, and seemed willing to believe what he was seeing. On the contrary, Kaiba was still shaking his head, as though (once again) denying the inevitable.

Malik finally broke the silence. "Aw, come on, Kaiba! You can't dismiss _this_ as one of your many _hallucinations_, can you?" The yamis sniggered. Kaiba shook his head.

"No, this is a trick. I have no idea where you got a hold of these advanced holograms, but I am telling you, this is NOT funny!" he said through gritted teeth. Bakura groaned in exasperation and started banging his head on the wall.

"You. Are. A. Bloody. IDIOT. You. Know. That. Right?" he said with each thump. Kaiba raised his eyebrows. Ryou intervened.

"Kaiba-kun, um, we can prove we're not holograms. After all, aren't holograms supposed to be technically nonexistent?" Kaiba nodded slowly. A look of realization crossed Yugi's face.

"Oooh! I get it! So if we can prove to Kaiba that we're SOLID, then he'll HAVE to believe that we're real!" Ryou nodded. "Yup!"

Malik walked, or more like, _strutted_, up to Kaiba in an extremely exaggerated way. "Hello everybody! I'm Seto Kaiba, the world's most pompous and arrogant prick, with a fetish for dragons to rival a DRAGON'S! And owner of the multi-_cent_ company known as………._KAIBACRAP!!! _ALL HAIL SETO KAIBA! BOW DOWN TO MY AWESOMENESS!"

Needless to say, the yamis couldn't take it any longer. One look at Kaiba's thunderous expression, and they were rolling on the floor in hysterics (Marik) or clutching at each other as they doubled over, fighting for air (Yami and Bakura). The latter two finally fell over when Malik strutted right up to Kaiba and looked him in the eye, noses almost touching, when, "PFFFFFFFFFFT!" he spat right in his face, and used his hands to shove him back. Kaiba took a few fumbling steps back, but didn't lose his balance, much to Malik's disappointment, and wiped his face in disgust. All the while Mokuba was staring the scene before him in amusement.

"Well, how do you like that Mr. Holograms-are-not-solid?" Malik smirked. Kaiba could only stare at the part of his chest where Malik had pushed, dumbstruck, a million thoughts whirring through his head. How? What? Where? When? Why????? This couldn't be real, it just couldn't be! They've got to be relatives or something, yeah, that's it, relatives who entered under false names in the tournaments…but wait, Yugi…he had seen Yugi change before…during that first fateful night…the Blue Eyes…Yugi changed back then, and won the duel. But how? Why? Seto closed his eyes wearily. Maybe there _was_ some truth in what they said after all…

"My father always said that it was harder to forgive someone for being right than for being wrong." Kaiba opened his eyes to find himself face to face (well, sort of) with the other Yugi, the one with eyes as red as blood, and an arrogance to rival his own, give or take some modesty.

* * *

School the next day, to say the least, was hectic. Having been told the whole story, everything from the Shinigami on the bus, to their meeting with the famous L, Seto Kaiba had decided to attend the nearby university himself. He was the same age as Yugi and his 'geek squad', so the only thing suspicious about it would be the fact that he was a famous CEO…but hey, if he could go to a lowly public school like Domino High, he could survive University.

Boy, was he wrong. It wasn't so much the workload (he got the teachers to give him less than everyone else, since he had a company to run), than the gawking fans. None of them had made a move yet, since he probably looked too intimidating, but Ra, were their stares ticking him off! Bakura noted that Kaiba resembled a timed bomb, ticking off the days until he exploded.

Raito was surprised at this outcome. He hadn't expected Seto Kaiba to come to HIS school, after all. However, amazement was far overshadowed by worry. Had 'Yugi' told him about his suspicions, about L? One way or another, he would have to find out. This couldn't go on for much longer. He spent so much time worrying about his secrecy, he was only cramming in a couple of nights of killings a week. If he was to cleanse the world of all evil, he had to use the Death Note everyday! Raito's eyes narrowed. These people, they were interfering with his plans, and he was going to find a way to stop them.

* * *

To Be Continued…

* * *

(1) He doesn't have to sacrifice cause he's not playing anybody, it's just demo…get it? Yeah…

**Y-n-A: **Phew! That took a while. I know the talking duel monsters and designer duel disk thing is kind if lame…no, REALLY lame, but I couldn't think of anything else for 'new technology', so please bear with me. Besides, its not as if this whole story revolves around Egyptian Duel Disks (cough DIA-DIANK cough). I don't even think there will even be a full out DUEL in this story, because I myself can't so much as beet a 4-year old at Duel Monsters…let a lone invent a duel between elite players.

**Yami: **_-pouts-_ So no duels? At all?

**Y-n-A: **Well, maybe some simple tabletop duels, but even then I'm just going to narrate the beginning and end of those, and put a bunch of dialogue and crap in between.

**Yami: **_-pouts-_

**Yugi: **_-giggles- _You're cute when you pout!

**Yami: **_-blushes profusely-_

**Y-n-A: **Aaaaaw, how kawa----

**Yami and Yugi: **-_are now making out on the sofa- _

**Y-n-A: **_-blinks- _Um…guys? GUYS?! _-sigh-_ Nevermind, but please, don't get the sofa dirty, people sit on that thing!

**Bakura: **Get a room, you two!

**Y-n-A: **I really wouldn't be talking if I were you Bakura, not with the way you and Ryou screw around like rabid foxes.

**Ryou: **_-blush-_

**Bakura: **_-stutters- W-WHAT?! T-THAT'S NOT TRUE!_

**Y-n-A: **_-sarcastically- _Uh huh, suuuuuuure. Anyways, readers, please review! People who review get cyber cookies! People who give constructive criticism will get cyber…Hikari or Yami plushies of you're choice! (Yugi, Ryou, Malik, Yami, Bakura, Marik) Or maybe cyber DN plushies (L and Raito). People who flame will have cyber knives thrown at them and will be criticized and made fun of in the author's notes of the next chapter by way of having Yami Mind Crush them! Yeah…anyways, please review!


	6. Secrets Revealed

**Y-n-T: **Whew! So here's a new chapter. Sorry I haven't updated (cough in only THREE days cough) in a while –cough-. I apologize for the serious lack of plot so far…haven't really been getting any bright ideas…btw, as you may have noticed, I have changed my username to Yami-no-Tamashii (Dark Soul), because of a certain butthole 'friend' of mine. xD

**L: **Just get on with the story…

**Y-n-T: **All right all right! Gosh, no need to nag!

_Ancient Egyptian language._

/Yugi to Yami/

//Yami to Yugi//

:Ryou to Bakura:

::Bakura to Ryou::

(Malik to Marik)

((Marik to Malik))

[Hikari to Hikari]

{Yami to Yami}

~Group Chat! xD~

* * *

L chewed on the grape in his mouth thoughtfully as he mulled over a bunch of random criminal records and death documents. Kira seemed to have been slacking off somewhat, it seemed. Could it be that he is worried of being found out? L pondered over this thought for a moment. Raito had seemed rather stressed at school lately, and it couldn't be because of the work, he was valedictorian for Kami's sake! It must be those new guys, Yugi, Ryou, and Malik. Raito probably knows that they suspect him…not to mention they probably already told him that they had joined the Kira hunt. He glanced back at the aforementioned teens, who were as of now talking quietly in the far corner of the room, in a language he did not understand.

"_For the last time, Tomb Robber, stop thinking about yourself and focus on the matter at hand for once! People are dying for Ra's sake!"_

"_So what? I couldn't care less about all the petty thieves and murderers in this world. They can all go to hell for all I care, it means less competition for me!"_

"_Oh, so are you admitting to doubting your thieving abilities?"_

"_Shut up, Tomb Keeper, that's not what I meant!"_

Marik sniggered, but was jabbed in the chest by Yami's elbow. He looked over at their 'boss'. L was looking at them with a bemused expression on his face. His expression clearly said, 'Care to tell me what the hell you guys were talking about just now?' Bakura coughed nervously.

"Care to tell me what language that is? I've been all over the world, and never have I heard a language quite like the one you're using," L inquired. The teens glanced at each other nervously. Yami gave a slight nod, and spoke up.

"Um…it's Egyptian, Ryuuzaki-san."

L raised his eyebrows. "Egyptian? But I've been to Egypt quite a few times, and never have I heard a tongue like that." Bakura glanced warningly at Yami, who responded with,

{I think we have to tell him the truth now.} Bakura raised his eyebrows.

{Are you nuts? It's only been a week!}

{True, but we have seen for ourselves Ryuuzaki's talent. It is clear he wants nothing more than to capture and expose Kira for the good of the world. You must remember, it's up to us and our hikari's to keep the balance. Merged together, we form neither light nor dark, but Shadow. And their can be no shadow without the light, or the dark.}

Bakura sighed in resignation, and glanced at Marik, who nodded, solemnly for once. {Alright then, but don't blame us if he throws us into an asylum for all the crap we're going to be spewing out}

L watched the teens closely. They seemed to be having one of those, 'mental' conversations again. He noticed that they did that quite a lot. Yami turned back to him.

"What we are about to tell you is absolutely confidential. No word of this must leave this room, or I swear you will regret it," he threatened. L could tell that he was more than capable of carrying out this threat.

"Also, you may, or may not, believe us, for the story we're about to tell you is extremely unbelievable. But you must remember, that every word we say is the absolute truth," Bakura warned. Then he smirked. "So let us begin."

Yami smirked too. "First, Ryuuzaki-san, answer me this: Do you believe in magic?"

L's eyebrows were so high up that they almost disappeared into his hairline. Did he believe in magic? Well, not especially, but what Kira is doing to criminals can't be called anything BUT magic. He nodded slowly. The yamis looked at each other, seemingly satisfied.

"Very well then. The story we are about to tell you has been long forgotten except but by a selected few. We implore you to listen closely…" and with that Yami began his story…

"3,000 years ago, when the pyramids were still young, there lived a powerful Pharaoh. He was known to all as King Akunankanon, and was the most powerful Shadow Mage of his time. What is a Shadow Mage, you say? Back in those days, priests and kings played a game of great and terrible power. These were called Shadow Games, and could be used to determine a person's very fate. In these 'games', players summoned monsters, or ka, to do battle. The loser always paid a heavy price, usually death. Or worse…" he did not elaborate, and L wasn't sure he wanted him to.

"These games erupted into a war that threatened to destroy the world. In order to bring peace to Egypt, the Pharaoh ordered seven magical items to be made. The Millennium Items. His brother, High Priest Akunadin, had found the spell to make these items in an ancient spellbook, and had informed the king, who immediately ordered it to be carried out. Akunankanon, however, had no idea of the sacrifice that was to be made in order for the spell to work." Bakura stepped forward this time.

"Akunadin and his soldiers rode into the village of Kul Elna, a village of thieves and outlaws. The spell required to make the items was this: Capture and kill exactly 99 thieves and murderers, boil them, bones and all, and use the 'potion' to mold the items." L's eyes widened in barely suppressed horror. Bakura smirked, though somewhat sadly. "Yes, Akunadin did exactly that. To him, a thieves life wasn't worth anything, he thought the world would be better off without them stealing from the Pharaoh's sacred tombs. He slaughtered the whole village, save for one, small boy, who had been hidden by his parents. This boy's name, was Akefia, but he later changed it, and became the most feared Tomb Robber in all of Egypt. Thief King Bakura."

L's eyes, if possible widened even more. Thief King _Bakura_? Bakura smirked. "Yes, _I _am the spirit of that boy, who survived the Kul Elna massacre so long ago, and I now share a body with my reincarnation, Bakura Ryou, who was unfortunate enough to be chosen as the bearer of the Ring. Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, of course…

"Consumed by rage, the Thief King vowed revenge on the Pharaoh and his men, but when he finally gained enough power, the original Pharaoh had passed away, leaving his son to take the brunt of his anger. His son, the Nameless Pharaoh, who had been but a child when the massacre had taken place. But the thief didn't care. He had been almost entirely consumed by the shadows in his heart, and was determined to acquire all seven Millennium Items, which when combined would give him the power to rule the entire world." Yami once again stepped forward.

"The Pharaoh was still young back then, no older than 18. Yet despite of this he was a powerful shadow mage, more powerful than his father, and the Millennium Puzzle around his neck only helped to enhance that power." He absently fingered the pyramid-shaped pendant around his neck. L stared at it, only just now seeing the grooves on the surface, looking as if said pendant had been put together, piece by piece. Yami followed his gaze and smiled sadly. "Yes, this is that very same puzzle, and I am that very same Pharaoh, who's spirit now inhabits the body of one Mutou Yugi. The Thief King Bakura had succeeded in uniting the Seven Items made of flesh and blood, and had resurrected the Dark Master Zork Necrophades, ruler of the shadows. All his priests had fallen, and the Pharaoh used the last of his strength to seal Zork away within the Millennium Items, using his own name as the key." Yami closed his eyes, and L thought he could see a single tear flow down his cheek. "But with the spell came a price. The Pharaoh had to seal away his own soul along with Zork's, into the Millennium Puzzle, where he remained for over three millennia. Until, just over two years ago, Yugi finished the God Puzzle, and released my spirit. I had no memory of where I was from, what I had done in the past, or who I was. I had even forgotten my own name, it being the key I used to lock away the shadows millennia before."

The room grew silent. Yami slowly blinked open his eyes. "Yugi and his friends helped me recover my lost memories, and my forgotten name, _Atemu_. After that, I was given a choice: would I go to the afterlife, and be judged by the Feather of Maat, or would I stay here, in this world? I chose the latter, for after everything we had been through together, I could not bring myself to part with my Aibou, with Yugi. He meant everything to me, and still does."

"I also chose to stay with Ryou. Though I had tried to destroy the Pharaoh countless times, it was because my actions were being influenced by the shadows that had all but consumed my heart. And with that, the Pharaoh and I were allowed to stay in the mundane world."

After that, Marik stepped forward, and explained everything from then on. From Yami's duel with Seto Kaiba to Pegasus J. Crawford and Duelist Kingdom. From Battle City to the search for the Pharaoh's memories. Marik also explained his own families roll as the Tomb Keepers of the Nameless Pharaoh, and how his 'host' Malik, driven by greed and resent, had tried to kill the Pharaoh, unsuccessfully. He also explained his roll in the near demise of the Pharaoh, about how he was sort of an 'alter ego' of Malik's, created by his pain and anger against his father and the Pharaoh. Throughout everything, L listened calmly and attentively. Marik explained about the current whereabouts of the Millennium Items, and Kaiba's role as High Priest Seto in the distant past, even though he kept on denying it.

Finally, Marik explained about the Shinigami they had seen following Raito around, and how Yami had related him to the car crash a few weeks prior.

Marik finally finished and took a long breath. He, Yami, and Bakura watched L nervously, as if just waiting for him to call, "SECURITY!" and have them dragged off to the nearest nuthouse. But L simply said, "I see." (insert anime fall here)

Bakura was first to get up. "T-that's it? 'I see'?!?! Aren't you going to yell for security and have us dragged off to the nuthouse or something?" L simply shook his head.

"No, I believe every word you say. To me, I suppose all this is believable. The only setback is that we can't allow the other agents to know about this, though it might slow us down."

Yami hissed. "_No one_, I repeat, _NO ONE,_ must know about us! You may believe us, but who's to say other people will? Telling you all this is dangerous enough."

L nodded solemnly. I understand. He turned back to the computer screen, once more becoming absorbed in his thoughts. "You may take the rest of the day off. I expect you want to spend some time with your hosts." The yamis blinked, but none complained as they quickly made their way back home to their lights.

* * *

The hikaris were ecstatic at having their yamis back, having finished all their schoolwork long ago, and so they proceeded upstairs to do some…er…_stuff_ that the author will definitely not mention in this story, and she begs you once again to use your own sick imagination.

* * *

A phonecall rang through the house, interrupting the yamis and hikaris in their, ahem, _activities_, and thus an argument started through the room walls on who should go get the phone. In the end, much to Bakura's annoyance, Ryou stumbled downstairs while pulling his shirt back on (cough cough), and picked up the phone.

"Moshi moshi. Bakura Ryou speaking."

"Hello Ryou, this is Ryuuzaki. Would you get your other to some over to the station? I have an important mission for him. Tell him that he doesn't have to bring the other darks."

Ryou's eyes widened in confusion. "Um, of course, Ryuuzaki-san, he'll be there right away." He put down the phone and called upstairs.

"'Kura!!! Ryuuzaki-san wants to see you, says he has an important mission for you!" Bakura's irritated voice reached Ryou from their room.

"Why me? Why doesn't he go make the Pharaoh or Keeper do it?"

"Don't ask me, just get yourself down here and go see him!"

After a few moments, Bakura stumbled down the stairs while pulling his pants on over his boxers (cough cough), and, grabbing his trench coat off the coat rack, told Ryou that he didn't have to wait for him if he wasn't home by dinner. With a last good-bye kiss, he walked out the door.

* * *

Bakura returned to the house during the middle of dinner, with a sadistic and less-than-sane smirk on his face. Yami's eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion.

"When the Tomb Robber has _that_ face on, it can't be anything good," he commented dryly. Yugi playfully slapped him on the arm in mock annoyance.

Bakura's smirk widened, and he turned to Ryou. "I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep with you tonight Ryou, I'll be out working late."

Ryou cocked his head cutely. "What for?"

Bakura's smirk widened even more, and he gave out a rather sadistic chuckle. "I'm going out thieving again," he announced proudly. Everybody's eyes widened. He looked at their less-than-approving expressions and sighed exasperatedly. "It's job Ryuuzaki gave me, okay? I'm going to snoop around at Raito's place!"

Yugi's eyes, if possible, widened even further. "You mean, you're going to steal from the Yagamis?"

Bakura gave out a chilling cackle that told all.

* * *

To Be Continued…

* * *

**Y-n-T: **BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! AW YEAH, I AM A _GENIUS_!!!

**Bakura: **_-rubs his hands together- _I can't wait! The next chapter will be all about ME baby!

**Y-n-T: **That's right! I was inspired by a certain reader saying that Bakura was acting too dim and OC-ish, so I'm improvising that by giving him his very own THIEVING CHAPTER!!!

**Raito: **O_O Oh boy, does this mean that…?

**Bakura: **_-turns to Raito- _That's right, kid! You can kiss your 'secret weapon' good-bye!

**Raito: **_-smirk- _Only if you can find it, and if you do, I'd advise you not to touch it, if you want to escape with your life.

**Bakura: **_-glares- _Oh yeah? We'll see about that!

**Ryou: **Please review! Also, don't forget to vote in Yami-n-Tamashii's poll! Because if you don't, she'll eventually run out of ideas for this fic, and I'm afraid we'll have to discontinue! So far, Harry Potter and the Legend of the Nameless Pharaoh is in the lead with 3 votes, with Everybody's Fool and Lies and Betrayal following with 1 vote each. So, pretty please vote?

**Yugi, Ryou, and Mokuba: **_Pweeeetty pweeeeeaaaaase??? -super special awesomely cute puppy dog eyes-_


	7. Flight of the Thief King

**Y-n-T: ** Whew! I started this chapter during a very 'convenient' black out that interrupted my reading which resulted in the computer shutting down which resulted in me swearing about how I wasn't able to save the link to my fanfiction…yeah…So here's a new chapter! I'm sure a lot of you are excited to know what's going to happen! Isn't that right, Bakura?

**PLEASE READ: If you like this story enough to put in on your favorites list, or alert list, please show your appreciation of my writing by leaving a review! Thanks!**

**Bakura:** Oh yeah! This chapter's all about me, baby!

**Y-n-T: **You got that right! Now before a forget:

/Yugi to Yami/ //Yami to Yugi//

:Ryou to Bakura: ::Bakura to Ryou::

(Malik to Marik) ((Marik to Malik))

{Yami to Yami}

-Hikari to Hikari-

~Group Chat~

Also, please bear with me during the whole 'thieving' thing, because I have no idea what the hell thieves do in order to get into houses, much less what someone like Bakura would do. So if something doesn't really make sense, like the whole knife thing with the window below, please just bear with me.

**Disclaimer: **I realized that I haven't put this in like the last five chapters, so here it is: Yu-Gi-Oh! Belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, and Death Note belongs to…er, whoever created it!

* * *

The night was warm and still. Crickets chirped lazily, their music filling the air with a soothing presence. Everyone was asleep, save for one Thief King Bakura, who at the moment was intent on his prey.

Bakura eyed the Yagami residence from his perch on the large oak tree in the front yard. He was peering through the dark windows on the second floor, trying to figure out which room was Raito's. Ah hah! There it was. Bakura climbed higher onto the tree, and, perching on a branch that was just above the roof, jumped silently onto the shingles. From there he cautiously crept up so that he was standing just above Raito's window.

:Bakura?: Ryou's worried voice sounded in his head.

::What is it? I'm kind of busy here:: he replied irritably.

:It's nothing. I was just making sure that you were alright. What if that Shinigami catches you?: Bakura softened at this, and replied,

::Don't be so worried Ryou. I've stolen from some of the most well-guarded tombs in Egypt, one little house isn't going to stop me:: Ryou fell silent at that, and Bakura continued on with his job.

Bending down so that his torso was almost parallel to the window, he reached into his pocket and took out a pocket knife. He could've easily drawn on the power of the shadows to open the window for him, but he preferred doing his thieving the old fashioned way. Using the pocket knife, he slid it into the crack between the window and the sill. Sliding it back and forth, and using the law of leverage, he managed to lift the window halfway up. This done, he put away the knife, and, reaching down with both hands, lifted the window all the way up, making sure to do it as silently as possible. Then, he nimbly swung off the edge of the roof and through the window, landing catlike in the middle of the room.

Bakura straightened and scoured the room with his eyes. His gaze fell from the window, to the desk, to the door, to the closet, then to the sleeping form of Raito on his bed. Now, if he was Raito, where would he hide a weapon that could kill people? Bakura's eyes once again fell to the desk. Of course! He made his way swiftly across the room. His hands roved across the desktop, under papers and books; he even looked under and behind the desk. Then, he tried the drawers. Hmmm…the drawer on the top had a lock with a key sticking out of it. He slid it open, only to find a book with the word, 'Diary' on the front. He picked up the diary and ruffled through the pages. The diary was blank; what was the point of locking it up in the first place if you hadn't even put any secrets in it? He placed it back and slid open the next two drawers. Finding nothing of interest, his gaze swiveled over to the closet.

He took the handles and pulled open the door. He felt around for a moment with his hands, but froze. There was something, or _someone_, in the room with him. His head snapped back towards the room, only to find no one there. Shrugging it off as nerves, he turned back to the closet only to jump back with a barely suppressed yell. There, standing in front of him, was…a monster. It had an unruly mane of coarse-looking dark hair and large, cammelion-like eyes, with red pupils. His body was thin and bony looking, with long fingers and toes (A/N: does Ryuk have toes? Pretend he does). His expression seemed permanently etched into a sadistic leer.

The…_thing_, no, _Shinigami_, Bakura realized, chuckled darkly. "Well well well, you must have a lot of skill in order to sneak into the Police Chief's household."

"Shut up _Shinigami_ if you want to keep your soul!" Bakura threatened quietly, repeatedly glancing behind his shoulder at the so far still sleeping form of Raito. The Shinigami only chuckled again.

"Feisty one, aren't you?" he commented. "Well? Continue on your search, I won't stop you, although I should probably warn you that Raito has set up some dangerous traps around what he is guarding." With that he disappeared. Bakura spun around, trying to see where he went. When the Death God showed no sign of returning, he relaxed, and returned to his search.

An hour later still weilded no results. Bakura had even searched the other bedrooms and downstairs, but to no avail. He was now sitting on the ground in Raito's room, grumbling silently to himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He was the King of Thieves, for Ra's sake! He couldn't turn back home empty handed, not to mention Yami and Marik would never let him forget it. His eyes once more turned to the desk. An idea hit him. Maybe, just _maybe_…

He returned to the desk and fingered the key stuck on the first drawer. He opened it again and picked up the diary. Placing it on the desktop he stuck his hands into the drawer and felt the bottom, sliding his palms from side to side. Nothing. He then felt the bottom of the drawer until, ah hah! There was a tiny hole in the bottom of the drawer. Maybe…his eyes looked around the room for something long and thin. He took a pencil from the desktop and stuck the eraser end into the small indentation at the drawer's bottom. He pushed, and the bottom of the drawer lifted up! Bingo!

He peered into the drawer and took the only thing that was in it: a black notebook with writing on the cover. Before he could examine it closely, however, there was a loud BANG! And the desk burst into flames. _Kuso! _So this is what the Shinigami meant when he spoke about traps! He saw Raito sit straight up in bed through the flickering flames.

* * *

"Who's there?" Raito caught sight of the burning desk. "No!" He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, but before he could do anything, a dark figure leapt through the flames and jumped out the open window. Raito hurried over the window, but saw nothing. The thief had escaped. Turning back to the flames, he quickly ran to the bathroom and returned with a basin full of water. He sloshed it onto the desk, and repeated this action several more times until the desk was completely devoid of flames.

Putting the basin back in the bathroom, he stood in the hallway for a moment. Miraculously, no one had woken up during the whole situation, but he'll sure have some explaining to do if ever his parents caught sight of his now burnt desk. Returning to his room, he rushed over to the desk, reopening the top drawer with some difficulty. His eyes widened. Someone had taken out the fake bottom! He searched the floor frantically for the object that was hidden, in case the thief had dropped it. No such luck. Raito finally faced the awful truth.

The Death Note was gone.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bakura knelt in the bushes that grew along the side of the house. He held up the black notebook, the moonlight glinting off two words penned onto the cover. _Death Note_. Opening the notebook, Bakura's eyes scanned the instructions written on the inside cover. As he read, his lips curled upward into a sadistic grin. _Perfect._

Without another word, he scaled the oak tree and jumped back over the fence.

* * *

To Be Continued…

* * *

**Y-n-T: **Yes, I know the chapter was kind of short, but I promised Bakura that this chapter would be all him, plus I wanted to leave you with a cliffie. –grins evilly-

**Bakura: **AW YEAH BABY! AM I THE THIEF KING OR AM I THE THIEF KING?!

**Y-n-T: **Yes, Bakura, you are truly a King of Thieves, now please shut up. By the way, where's Raito?

**Ryou: **I think he's still sulking in his room.

**Y-n-T: **Aw, poor him. Well, it had to be done.

**Yami: **Please review! This time we're offering…uh, Yami-no-Tamashii, are you sure it's a good idea to be offering Cyber Death Notes?

**Y-n-T: **O_O good point. I take that back! Instead if you review you'll get…uh…Cyber Kuriboh plushies!!! Yeah, that's it!

**Yugi: **I love Kuriboh!

**Y-n-T: **I know that. xD Also, don't forget to vote in my poll! So far people seem to want me to start my **HP/YGO **fic, so unless you feel the same you'd better go and vote!


	8. Exposed?

**Dark Soul: **I'm back and better than ever! It took some serious thinking to get this chapter done, since I had to find a way around finishing the story too soon. xD Hope this meets expectations!

**Raito: **_-sadly- _Just get on with it…

**L: **Someone's sad.

**Raito: **_-angrily- _Hey, shut up, no one asked you! Besides, I've got it all figured out already.

**Ryou: **Oh really?

**Raito: **_-proudly- _Yup! You'll see what I mean this chapter!

**Disclaimer: **I don't want to have to say this again: I DON'T OWN 'EM!

* * *

Lights went on in the Mutou/Bakura/Ishtar household, along with shouting and curses, muffled by the cement walls and windowpanes. Anyone who happened to walk by just then would have thought that a riot had broken out with the noise they were making. But Raito knew better, as he watched them from his bedroom window. He could see shapes running across the windows, some fumbling with shirts, others chasing another shape. His eyes narrowed. How coincidental, that right after his Death Note was stolen his classmates would suddenly wake from their slumber (A/N: _-cough-_ As if they were sleeping xD). It _was_ only two in the morning after all.

How strange, the shadows passing the windows…were far too rapid to belong to only three people. One person runs across, followed by another, then immediately after that, a different silhouette crosses the light from the opposite side, with a different person following. Ryuk was right…there _were_ more than three people.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the M/B/I household…

"Damn you, Tomb Robber, couldn't you have waited until morning?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, _Tomb Keeper_, its 2 am…_in the morning_."

"FUCK YOU!!!"

* * *

Yami examined the Death Note with a keen eye, flipping through the name-filled pages. As he was doing this, the others were conversing in low (or in some cases, not so low) voices.

"So are you saying that if you write someone's name in that notebook, they'll die of a heart attack in 40 seconds?" Yugi said with something akin to horror.

"Well, if you state the manner of death within in a certain amount of seconds after you write the name, then that's how they will die," Bakura added.

"So are you saying that if we wrote your name, then state: Yami kills him out of spite, then it'll happen?" Malik asked playfully, earning him a smack on the head. Yami chuckled from his place on the loveseat, eyes still not leaving the Death Note. Bakura glared at him.

A few minutes of awkward silence followed, until suddenly Yami jumped up from his seat, "FOUND IT!"

Everybody, even Yugi, stared at him. Yami flushed and sat back down, shoving the Death Note into Bakura's face.

"See here, this is the entry that caused the criminal to die that day on the bus. 'Hijack bus I am riding at 11:00 am, stops bus. Goes insane and runs off bus at 11:05, gets hit by a car.' It's all planned out flawlessly!"

Bakura grabbed the Death Note and scanned the writing on the page. Marik, Malik, Ryou, and Yugi leaned over his shoulders in order to get a better look. After another few minutes of passing the book around and reading the various names, Marik spoke up.

"So, are we gonna call Ryuuzaki or what?"

"I don't know, it would be rude to interrupt his sleep, after all," Ryou said. Bakura snorted.

"Sleep? Yeah right, hell will probably freeze over before that guy so much as closes his eyes for longer than five seconds." Yami and Marik couldn't help but nod in agreement. Even so though, they decided it would probably be best to discuss matters at school, in person.

Deciding this, they all said their goodnights and returned to bed, this time too tired to do any, er, _other_ activities.

* * *

Raito paced his room angrily, searching for a way out of this mess. Suddenly, Ryuk appeared by his bed. Raito turned on him.

"Ryuk! Why are you still here? I no longer own the Death Note, shouldn't you have gone to the thief?"

Ryuk chuckled. "I was never one to abide by the rules. Besides, I'm bored, and this is interesting."

Raito rolled his eyes. _Oh great_. He began pacing again. "Yugi and his friends have it. I _know_ they do. They woke up as soon as the thief left!"

Ryuk only chuckled again. Raito turned to glare at him.

"What is up with those three? I know it's not three, there were too many shadows for that. You were right; there are more. Who are they Ryuk? How come we've never been introduced? Tell me!"

Ryuk chuckled. "You know it's not my job to reveal secrets, but I suppose I'll tell you, since if I don't, there won't be any action."

Raito leaned forward eagerly, eyes begging for knowledge.

"Now listen closely…"

* * *

Ren sighed as she took in the sleeping form of Misa, curled up on her side in her bed. She turned back to the window that she had been looking out of. Those kids that Misa had been hanging around with lately…there was something, _unnatural_ about them. Something dark. She had not failed to notice the multiple souls that shared each body, one of darkness and one of light. Maybe, just maybe, they could finally stop this madness. This madness that Raito Yagami was unleashing in the world, under the delusion that he would become like god. Justice indeed.

* * *

The next day at school, was, to say the least, extremely awkward. It didn't take very long for Yami-tachi to figure out that Raito knew that they were the thieves, and so they avoided each other as much as possible. Poor Misa, who had no idea what was going on, stuck with Raito most of the time, only occasionally going over to talk to the duelists. Raito spent most of the day hyperventilating, dreading World History, the only class that he, Yugi (No, _the spirit of the pharaoh_, he reminded himself, remembering Ryuk's words from last night)-tachi, _and_ Ryuuzaki had together. They would tell him for sure!

As the teacher called out attendance, however, the famous L was nowhere to be found. It appears that this was Raito's lucky break; maybe he was sick or something. His forehead connected to the desk with a thunk, and he let out a relieved sigh. He could almost feel the stares he was receiving from 'Yugi', 'Ryou', and 'Malik' on his back.

Later, Raito was walking across campus, just a little ways behind his former friends. Suddenly, the tall, imposing figure of Seto Kaiba strode through the crowd, which parted in his wake. Upon catching sight of him, 'Yugi' and his friends rushed towards him. 'Yugi', or rather, the pharaoh who inhabited his body, paused for a second, glancing back at him with blood-red eyes. His lips turned upwards in a smirk. 'We _will_ expose you,' he mouthed, before turning around and heading after his companions, the thief and the tomb keeper.

Raito watched as they spoke with him in hushed voices, and he saw Kaiba roll his eyes and make a scathing remark. 'Malik', exasperated, shoved something small and black into his hands. Something that Raito recognized to be his Death Note. Seto Kaiba flicked through the pages, eyes widening, occasionally shooting him glances. Finally, they walked off together, after stopping to each give him a knowing glance.

Raito's heart thumped wildly in his chest. He only had approximately three hours before school ended and the spirits would be able to go to the station and report to L, whether he was sick or not. And at this point, he did not have many options. He could either a) let himself get arrested, b) try to act dumb and deny all evidence against him, or c) quickly come up with a last-minute plan that will hopefully work.

Whenever he didn't know the answer, he always chose C.

* * *

After dropping off their hikaris at home, so that they could catch up on some more homework, the Yamis set off downtown, to the police station. Hopefully Ryuuzaki would be their, even if he was sick. As they walked along, attracting many stares and whispers along the way, they began to talk.

"Sooo…what exactly are we going to tell him?" Bakura asked.

"Don't ask me. You're the one who found the Death Note. You did bring it, right?" Yami inquired. Bakura bristled at the remark.

"Of course I brought it! What do you take me for, an—"

"Idiot?" Marik put in. Bakura turned on him and attempted to smack him on the head with the Death Note. He missed and ended up almost crashing into a lady with a stroller, who hastily walked away with a nasty glare back in his direction. Yami and Marik cracked up. Bakura glared.

"Oh shut up!"

Still laughing, Yami and Marik strode down the sidewalk, arms around each other, acting like the 'best of chums', leaving Bakura steaming in their wake.

* * *

Raito sat by himself on a small park bench in Takahashi Park, desperately trying to think of a plan. Suddenly, he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He looked up into the soft eyes of Misa, who was looking at him worriedly.

"Is something wrong, Raito-kun? You seem awfully down today!" she asked, taking a seat beside him. Raito sighed.

"They stole it, Misa."

"Stole what?"

"My Death Note."

Misa's eyes widened, and she let out a gasp. "They did? Wait...who's 'they'?"

"Yugi, Ryou, and Malik," Raito replied bitterly. Misa's eyes only widened further.

"But, I thought they were our friends!"

"Yeah, but they didn't know that I was Kira. One of them snuck into my house last night and stole it. Now they'll be on their way to Ryuuzaki to report me."

"Isn't their anything I can do to help?"

Looking at Misa, who looked like she was about to cry, something suddenly clicked in Raito's mind. Ryuk had mentioned that the yamis were often separated from their lights after school. Maybe, just _maybe_…

"Maybe there _is_ something you can help me with, Misa…"

* * *

Arriving at the station, the yamis strode inside, passing the secretary's desk without so much as a glance. Down the twisting and turning hallways, deeper into the station, to the secret conference rooms only some knew of. They arrived at the door of L's 'study'.

As they had expected, Ryuuzaki was perched upon his chair on the far end of the room, eating cookies and staring at some video recording of some security cameras set in one of the various rooms of the station. When the yamis entered the room, he didn't so much as flinch, only said,

"Good afternoon, gentlemen."

"Why weren't you at school?" Marik asked, eyes narrowing. Ryuuzaki shrugged his shoulders.

"I didn't feel like going."

[insert anime fall here]

"Oh, by the way, Bakura, did you find anything interesting in the Yagami household?"

Bakura smirked, and fished inside his trench coat for a moment, before pulling out the Death Note.

"I think you'll be immensely satisfied by this juicy bit of evidence I dug out," he snickered, handing the notebook to Ryuuzaki, who looked at it in confusion, before opening it and scanning the pages. His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open into a small 'o'. Flipping the pages rapidly, he said, "This is it. This is exactly what I've been looking for! Amazing…simply amazing."

Bakura was tapping his foot impatiently. "Don't I get some kind of reward for this? After all, I almost got burned to death getting that thing!"

Everybody turned to stare at him. Yami cocked an eyebrow. "Burned to death?"

Bakura nodded furiously. "That damn Raito sure is a brainiac. Had some kind of booby trap laid on the notebook, as soon as I took it out of his desk, the whole thing exploded. Because of that, he woke up and saw me escape. But he didn't know it was me!" he added hastily after seeing Yami's glare.

Ryuuzaki simply nodded slowly. "I see…hmmm." His gaze returned to the Death Note still clutched in his hands. Suddenly, the phone rang.

"I'll get it," Yami volunteered, before making his way to the cordless phone. "Moshi moshi?"

"_Hello, Pharaoh."_

Yami's eyes widened. "Who is this?" he demanded.

"_I believe that I have something, or rather, _someone_, that belongs to you. Blond bangs, red-tipped black hair, large purple eyes…sound familiar?"_

Yami's crimson eyes widened, his normally tanned skin turning almost white, as Bakura, Marik, and Ryuuzaki stared at him curiously.

* * *

**Dark Soul:** Yes, I know this chapter's short. And yes, I know that I am evilly obsessed with writing cliffhangers.

**Yami: **_-mutters darkly-_

**Raito: **_-is whistling *cough* innocently *cough*-_

**Ryou: **Please review! This time you won't get anything though, since Yami-no-Tamashii is running out of plushy ideas. Maybe you'll get a…Millennium Puzzle plushy or something?


	9. Angst

**Darkie: **O_O I just realized that there is something seriously wrong with my plot line. You know at the beginning when I said Raito was on a cover-up date with Misa? Well, I lied. Turns out he doesn't meet Misa until the fourth book, and the fake date was in the first book…

**Everybody: **_-sweatdrop-_

**Darkie: **Buuuut, since if I didn't include Misa in this, my whole 'kidnapping scheme' is ruined, so let's pretend that nothing's wrong and just go with flow, okay? :D Also, many people are under the impression that Raito kidnapped ALL the hikaris, when in reality *cough* he only kidnapped Yugi. Don't ask me how, just READ THE DAMN CHAPTER.

**Everybody: **_-sweatdrop-_

**Darkie: **I also just realized that since Raito doesn't become part of the Task Force in this, he only knows Ryuuzaki as Ryuuga…oops…I totally forgot about his Hideku Ryuuga popstar alias. xD

**Everybody: **_-insert anime fall here-_

* * *

Last time…

* * *

_Ryuuzaki simply nodded slowly. "I see…hmmm." His gaze returned to the Death Note still clutched in his hands. Suddenly, the phone rang._

"_I'll get it," Yami volunteered, before making his way to the cordless phone. "Moshi moshi?"_

"_Hello, Pharaoh."_

_Yami's eyes widened. "Who is this?" he demanded._

"_I believe that I have something, or rather, someone, that belongs to you. Blond bangs, red-tipped black hair, large purple eyes…sound familiar?"_

_Yami's crimson eyes widened, his normally tanned skin turning almost white, as Bakura, Marik, and Ryuuzaki stared at him curiously._

* * *

"I TOLD YOU ALREADY, WE CAN'T ARREST HIM!" Yami screamed for what seemed like the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes.

Ryou and Malik (who had come over as soon as they discovered that Yugi was missing) cowered behind their darks, eyes wide. They had never seen Yami like this before, and it scared them to no end. His red eyes were dark with anger, and the eye was Horus flickered on and off on his forehead like a dying light bulb. Bakura and Marik knew it was a matter of time before Yami finally snapped and sent everyone in the room to the Shadow Realm. And to tell the truth, neither of the yamis felt like going there a second (or in Bakura's case, the like, third) time.

Ryuuzaki, on the other hand, was not impressed. He believed that the wellbeing of the world was more important than the life of one boy. But since that one boy happened to be Yugi Mutou, he had practically earned himself a one-way ticket to eternity in the Shadows. That is, if he survived Yami's wrath first.

"I told you already. One life is nothing compared to millions of others," he stated calmly, eyes emotionless as always. Yami didn't like this answer one bit. His nostrils flared, and he released a low growl.

"Millions of lives," he hissed. "The lives of criminals! Are you saying that a million lying, stealing lives are worth more than my hikari's pure and innocent one?!"

"That is not what I meant," Ryuuzaki insisted, but was cut off by Yami.

"Are you implying that _criminals_ are more important than _Yugi_?!" he screeched, his normally low voice rising at least two octaves. His hand flashed out and took Ryuuzaki by the collar, pulling him up to Yami so that they were almost nose to nose.

"Listen, _Ryuuzaki, _and listen good. Raito has Yugi. He also has the second Kira on his side. This means that if we make a move on him, the second Kira will just write Yugi's name in their Death Note, and we all know what will happen then."

Ryuuzaki's eyes showed no emotion, but finally, he sighed and relented. "Very well. We will wait. One week. You have one week to try and retrieve your lover from the clutches of Kira. After that, however, I will have to move in, for the good of the world."

Yami 'psh'ed, and let go of Ryuuzakii's collar. He then left the station, muttering about how he was probably the only one who actually knew what was and what wasn't for the good of the world. After all, he was the one who saved it like five times. Bakura, Marik, and their hikaris followed quickly after him, only sparing a single glance behind them at the now eating Detective L.

* * *

Yugi lay on the small and rather uncomfortable cot, tied down with thick rope. Oh, why oh why did it always have to be him? Why did things always end up like this?

_/Flashback/_

_The doorbell rang. Yugi made his way down the hallway and opened the front door. _

"_Misa-san? What are you doing here?" he asked. Misa only smiled._

"_Um, can I speak to you for a moment, Yugi-kun?" she asked hesitantly. Yugi nodded. "Um, can you come outside please? I don't want your friends to hear this."_

_Stepping out onto the front steps and shutting the door quietly behind him, Yugi stood and waited to hear what Misa had to say. _

"_Yugi-kun? Do you want to go for a drive? I'd rather we talk in my limo, where we won't be overheard," Misa said. Yugi nodded, unsuspecting. Together they got into Misa's limo, and she ordered the driver to just drive around the block. _

"_So Misa, what exactly did you want to talk about?" Yugi asked. Suddenly, a pair of strong hands grabbed him from behind. He opened his mouth to scream, but Misa quickly clamped a long-nailed hand over his mouth. A familiar voice hissed in his ear._

"_Try anything and we will kill you."_

_Yugi's eyes widened. _Raito?

"_Yes, it's me, Raito. I see that your darks have already figured it out. But what they don't know is that I have the Second Kira on my side, and Misa won't hesitate to write your name in her Death Note should you not obey our orders," Raito said. Yugi nodded. _

"_Misa, tell the driver to take us to your apartment."_

_They limo sped off, with Ryou and Malik still at home, none the wiser._

_/End Flashback/_

Cursing himself for being so gullible and naïve, he strained his neck in order to catch sight of what was going on in the next room.

Raito was talking quietly to Misa. Who would've thought that she would be the second Kira? Yugi strained against his bindings, trying to hear what they were saying.

"Raito-kun, are you sure that this is a good idea? Those agents from the Task Force could arrest you!" Misa asked worriedly. Raito put a reassuring hand on her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it Misa. Now that we have Yugi hostage, the spirits and the other two boys won't dare let L arrest me," he said confidently.

"If you say so," Misa said, before turning and walking back toward where Yugi was tied down. Raito retreated back to his own room, where he had been a lot of time lately.

Sitting down besides Yugi, Misa brushed the bangs away from his eyes. Yugi's amethyst eyes glared back at her, and she sighed.

"I'm sorry, Yugi-kun, but I don't know what I'd do if Raito were sent to jail. I love him with all my heart. You do understand, don't you Yugi-kun? After all, don't you feel the same about your dark half or whoever he is?" Misa asked, sounding unusually serious. Yugi's eyes softened, and he said,

"I understand how you feel, but…it's not the same," he said, turning his head away. Misa tilted her head to the side, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, Yami would never kill anybody, criminal or no. Well, actually, I shouldn't really be saying that, considering he did kind of set this one guy on fire…but, eh, he's changed now," Yugi explained, saying the last part somewhat sheepishly.

"But don't you think that criminals should be brought to justice? They're bad people, aren't they?" Misa asked.

Yugi nodded, but then said, "It's true that criminals deserve to be punished, but not like this. Raito kills them off like flies, as though they were just a nuisance, nothing more. And after all, didn't he also kill 12 FBI agents from America? What did they do to deserve this?"

"They were a threat to him. If he hadn't killed them he would've been exposed," Misa defended her boyfriend, although she was looking slightly more uncertain.

"But they still had families. Think of how their families would've felt. They would hate Kira. By killing the FBI agents, he must have made himself unpopular with some people," Yugi shot back. "Why do you love Kira so much anyways?"

Misa stood up, eyes shining. "One year ago, my parents were killed in a robbery. It happened right in front of me! I was so angry, I wanted that man to pay for what he did. But in court, there wasn't enough evidence, and rumors rose that he was being falsely accused. But then Kira came, and punished him." she explained, smiling dreamily. "That's why Raito means everything to me."

Yugi relaxed. Even though Misa was somewhat an airhead, and a ditz, she still had a big heart. She meant well, but what she didn't understand was that Raito was using her, manipulating her. If only she would realize this…

Turning his head back to the ceiling, Yugi decided to get some shut-eye. He closed his eyes, and almost immediately found himself on a large bed with blue sheets. Looking around, he saw clusters of toys and games scattered around the somewhat small room. It was his soulroom!

Getting up off the bed, Yugi carefully picked his way through the numerous toys, making mental note to do some serious cleaning up sometime. He reached the dark blue door on the opposite side of the room, and pushed it open, stepping out into a seemingly endless and dark hallway. He looked across the hallway, expecting to find that sinister, steel door that led to his other half's soulroom. But it was gone. Yugi looked around frantically, trying to see if maybe he had come out at the wrong place. But there was no door in sight.

Yugi blinked his eyes open, confused. Why couldn't he find Yami's soulroom? His fingers instinctively flexed, as though trying to feel the puzzle at his chest, but of course they were tied to his side. Raising his head slightly, Yugi noted with horror that the Millennium Puzzle no longer rode on his neck. His eyes widened. How…?

"Looking for this?" a voice said, coming from the doorway. Yugi turned his head and narrowed his eyes at the tall and lean figure of Raito Yagami. He was leaning casually against the doorframe, and dangling from his hand, suspended on a chain, was the Millennium Puzzle

"Give it back!" Yugi demanded. Raito only shook his head.

"Ah ah ah, you don't think I'm that stupid, do you? Ryuk told me all about your spirits and Ancient Egyptian artifacts. I think it would be wise of me to keep this out of your reach for the time being," he said. Yugi struggled against his bindings, but his efforts were futile. He watched in despair was Raito walked back out of the room, the puzzle going with him.

Closing his eyes again, a tear slid down Yugi's cheek. One last thought passed through his mind before he finally fell into a fitful, dreamless sleep.

_Please save me, Yami. Please…_

* * *

Yami paced back and forth across the living room floor. He was frustrated to no end. Since Yugi had the Millennium Puzzle, Raito had probably taken it from him, which would explain why Yami wasn't able to contact Yugi through their mind link. He punched the wall angrily, with enough force for it to crack. Why? Why was he such a useless yami?

"Oi! Could you puh-_lease_ stop pacing? You're giving me a headache big enough to kill a camel!" Bakura's voice penetrated his thoughts, forcing him back to reality.

"Seriously, Pharaoh, pacing isn't going to do you any good. We've got to think of something, and think _fast_. I doubt Raito will have taken Yugi to his place, so we have to find out exactly where Yugi is," Bakura continued. Yami slumped his shoulders and sighed, nodding.

"You're right."

Bakura blinked in surprise. "I am?" He hadn't expected the Pharaoh to submit so easily. It just went to show how worried he was about Yugi. Maybe he wasn't such a stuck-up bastard after all. "Um, I mean, of course I am!" Ryou rolled his eyes. Yami slumped down onto the armchair, putting his head in his hands.

"What do we do?" he asked dismally.

"Well, I would have thought it was obvious, Pharaoh," a new voice entered the conversation. And it wasn't Malik or Marik. The group in the living room looked up in surprise. There, in all his white trench-coat clad glory, was none other than Seto Kaiba.

"How in the name of Anubis did you get in here?" Bakura asked sharply, eyes narrowing. Anyone that could sneak into a house while HE was in it did not make themselves popular with the Thief King…not that Kaiba was popular with him anyways.

"If you had used common sense, it would've been obvious that I had used the door," Kaiba replied without so much as a blink. Bakura glowered as Ryou sniggered into his palm.

"What do you want, Priest?" he asked.

"I had heard about Yugi's…mishap," Seto said, chancing a glance at Yami, who as of now was looking rather murderous. "And I know that unless I do something about it, the Pharaoh is never going to duel me again."

That was just his way of saying, "I want to help you."

"But _what_ can we do?" Yami asked despairingly. "It's obvious Raito has the upper hand in this. He has Yugi somewhere we don't know. He has the second Kira on his side, who we don't know. And if we try _anything_, he'll just order the second Kira to write Yugi's name in their Death Note. There's no way to win—argh!"

The ancient Pharaoh suddenly found himself pinned up against the wall by Seto, who's normally emotionless cobalt eyes were blazing with anger.

"Don't you _dare _give up on this, Atemu! You are the King of Games! This is all just a game, albeit a dangerous one, but it's still a game! None of us are going to get _anywhere_ if _you_ give up!" he hissed threateningly. Yami looked up, startled. Kaiba thought he could see the beginnings of tears in his crimson eyes. With a sigh, he let go. Yami slid down the wall and fell on his knees, his head bent low.

What seemed like an eternity of silence passed, as the group watched the motionless Pharaoh during his vigil. Malik and Marik had come over from the kitchen as well to watch the spectacle.

Finally, at the end of the excruciatingly long silence, Yami raised his head. The look in his blood-red eyes were filled with such pain, anger, determination, and most of all, _hatred_, that the onlookers couldn't help but step back. His lips curved upward in a deadly smirk. Few who saw it lived to tell the tale. Gaze turning on Bakura and Marik, who both gulped, the game king asked a rather simple question, but with a hidden meaning.

"Tell me, Thief, Keeper. How long has it been since any of us have played a…_game?_"

The other two yamis immediately brightened, and smirks equally as deadly as Yami's appeared on their faces.

"Why, I believe it _has_ been a rather…_long_ time since we've had a _real _ game…" Bakura replied, playing along.

Ryou, Malik, and Seto traded glances.

Why did they suddenly feel _very _ sorry for Raito and his accomplice?

* * *

**Darkie: **Yup, that was bad. Not a very satisfying chapter, eh? Not a very long one, either, but I have writer's block right now…so I just used this chapter as a pathetic excuse to a) bring back Kaiba, and b) write out a deadly pissed Yami...because he's sexy when he's mad. xD

**Yugi: **Also, it would help greatly if you could help think of some super special awesome Shadow Games that could be used for later in this fic, and for the _Harry Potter and the Shadow Casters_ fic as well…

**Darkie: **I'm not very creative when it comes to those…-_-' also, vote in my poll!

**Malik: **Please review!!!


	10. The Chapter with No Name xD

**Darkie: **Aaand, I'm back, baby! OMG, I'M SOOOO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!!! Sorry, but I was waay too preoccupied with this new fic idea of mine that I'm just bursting to finish. Sadly, I'm only on chapter four. xD And before you ask, no, I won't tell you what it's about, but I will tell you that it _is_ Puzzleshipping. _–fangirl squeal-_ On my profile, it is labeled Super Special Awesome Secret Fic. xD

Also, I realize that Misa sends the tapes, so L invites Raito to the Task Force. Not happening in this fic. She sent the tapes, but Raito just saw them at home, and never went to headquarters. Capeesh?

**Note: AAARGH, I GIVE UP!!! I'M GOING TO CALL 'RAITO', 'LIGHT' FROM NOW ON, BECAUSE THE STUPID NAME IS BUGGING ME!!! AND NO, I'M NOT GOING BACK AND CHANGING EVERYTHING ELSE!!! YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO READ THIS DAMN NOTE!!! **

**Yugi: **_-sweatdrop- _Calm down, Darkie.

**Warning: This has not been betaed. Deepest apologies if there are any mistakes or awkward sentences.**

**Yami: **Can we just get on with it now?

**Darkie: **_-coughs selfconsciously- _Right…now, Valon, lights!

**Valon: **_-turns on stage lights- _Check!

**Darkie: **Ishizu, camera!

**Ishizu: **_-rolls camera- _Check!

**Darkie: **Alrighty then! Actors in position please!!! _-everyone hurries into place-_

**Darkie: **Aaand, ACTION!!!

* * *

Long and slender fingers flew across the laptop's keyboard, as Seto Kaiba tried futilely to find information on the Second Kira. After much persuasion from Bakura and Marik, and a few death threats from Yami, Detective L had agreed to give them copies of the tapes sent by the second Kira. Seto had watched each tape at least five times, but so far had come to no conclusions about the Second Kira, albeit the fact that some of their tapes sounded extremely cheesy.

As Seto pondered this dilemma, the yamis were in the next room, arguing, of course.

"Why can't we just---"

"No!"

"What about---"

"No way in hell, Bakura!"

"Why do you always have to take the fun out of everything, Pharaoh?"

Yami rolled his eyes. He was definitely NOT in the mood for dealing with the gruesome twosome right now. Finding Yugi came first. And at the pace they were going at, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"We have to find him, we have to find Yugi!" he shouted.

"Chill, Pharaoh, we know that!" Bakura snapped. "Stop panicking and start helping!"

"Oh, is that what you're doing Bakura? Helping? Who would've thought?" Malik said sarcastically, having been watching the whole argument on the couch with Ryou. Bakura glared at him while Marik snickered.

All five teens had continued to go to school, so as not to arouse suspicion, and had seen Light there as well. However, since none of them could act upon seeing each other, they settled for murderous glares and whispered threats instead. Misa had also been rather subdued, mostly sticking with Light.

* * *

"Are you sure you're alright, honey?"

"Yes mom, I'm fine. I'm just staying at a friend's house right now so that we can work on our school project, there's nothing to worry about."

"All right, if you're sure. I'll tell your father."

"Thanks mom."

Light sighed, putting down the phone. That school project excuse would work for now, but Light knew he was running out of time. Unless those spirits decided to give him back the Death Note and stop meddling in his affairs, he would have to stay with Misa.

They weren't exactly on good terms anymore at school, and only spoke to each other when it was required. Even so, conversations were always short, stiff, and overly polite. There were already whispers following the two groups, rumors that they had had some kind of huge argument, but Light wasn't one to pay attention to those things.

Sighing again, Light entered the next room, which happened to be the spare bedroom where Yugi was being held, kept from straying away with chains and handcuffs. Light had gotten them as a precaution, since even he wouldn't have an innocent boy tied up and gagged for a whole week. Although buying the chains themselves had been a very uncomfortable experience; he had had to go to a very secluded and shady part of town, and the shop owner had gave him a scary leer when he purchased them. It was no question as to why the old man thought he needed the chains. The store had been called 'Chains, Whips, and Sex'. Yeah…not somewhere Light wanted to go to again.

The amethyst-eyed teen looked up from his book, eyes immediately hardening at the sight of his visitor. What irked Light most about the boy was that he seemed unfazed by the fact that he was being held captive by the world's top serial killer. The boy was still convinced that his precious darkness would play his knight in shining armor and save him, but Light knew better. He had made it this far, and wasn't about to lose.

"So…how are you feeling, Yugi?" Light asked as politely as possible, though in reality he was still waiting for the young man to break. As if seeing through his charade, Yugi smirked in a very un-Yugi like way.

"Still hoping I'm going to give up, ne?" he asked casually, turning back to the novel. "Well, I advise you not to hold your breath."

Light resisted the urge to sigh in frustration, and he left the room without another word, aware of the amused gaze that followed him out.

He had been watching the television for some time when the apartment door creaked open and Misa came in. Sighing with exhaustion, she collapsed onto the couch, wrapping her arms around Light's. Ren followed her in shortly afterwards, looking disapproving as usual.

"Oh Light, this whole thing is getting _so _tiring. Why can't we go find them instead?" Misa asked. Light shook his head.

"Because that would be nothing short of suicidal, Misa. Don't you remember what I told you about those spirits? They have powers far beyond anything we've ever experienced with the Death Note. All we can do is hope they care enough about Yugi to give in," he replied. Misa sighed in frustration.

"All right, I get it already! But you've been so tense lately; I haven't gotten so much as a single kiss this week!"

Light rubbed his temples with his fingers. He was getting a massive headache.

As Light and Misa argued about the pros and cons of keeping the hikari in the apartment, Ren was going through her own thoughts. She wanted Misa to be happy, and the obvious way to do that would be to not interfere and let her stick with Light. On the other hand, Light was a slimy, greedy man who was only using Misa for his own benefits. Even though Misa herself didn't realize this, Ren knew that her ending would be anything but happy.

The boy…Yugi was his name. Misa didn't know, but Ren had been able to talk to him on occasion, when Light and Misa were at school, and Ren had decided to stay home. The boy had seemed amiable enough, with his bright amethyst eyes and ever-present smile. But Ren could tell that he was hurting inside. Despite his cool and calm demeanor towards Light and Misa, Yugi had been more open with Ren, after she had assured him that there was no need for her to tell Misa or Light about anything he said. And so Yugi had used Ren to spill out all his worries and fears about his darkness and friends on. Ren had learned that Yugi was more concerned about his friends' wellbeing than his own. It impressed her that a human would be so self-sacrificing for others. After all, the only other humans that she had known were people like Light Yagami.

Yugi had also told her how alone he felt without the link to his darkness, Yami, Ren believed he was called. Something in the way he talked about his darkness; with so much reverence and adoration and love, as though he were the embodiment of God himself, touched Ren's non-existing heart. The boy truly was a soul of pure and blinding light.

Therein lies the source of Ren's renewed hatred towards Light Yagami. How could someone hold such an innocent and kind boy captive, and even threaten his life? Only the most despicable of men would stoop so low.

There and then, Ren decided that she would save Misa. She would save Misa from the monster that was Light Yagami, even if it cost her own life.

* * *

Detective L was in the fix of his life. It had been precisely 3.67832 days since the darknesses had left the Task Force in order to rescue their friend, and he still hadn't received an 'okay' to arrest Light. Which meant that they were still searching. Well, they'd better hurry up, for time was running out.

L had never been so intrigued in a case before. Usually it was him just starting the unsolved case, and leaving with it a solved case a few days later. But this Kira case was the longest L had ever worked on, not to mention the most difficult. Light Yagami was a truly slippery character.

If any other person had asked, L would probably have disagreed with the one week limit, and come upon the culprit right away. But those spirits had a look in their eyes that caused L to seriously rethink his position. For weeks he had believed himself to be dictating the darks, and having them help _him _solve the case. Now he realized that it had been the other way around. Also, in a small part of L's mind, he was pretty sure that agreeing to give them time to rescue their friend was actually in the best interests in the wellbeing of the world. He had no doubt that the crimson-eyed youth, Yami, would tear apart the globe and commit extreme mass murder if Yugi were harmed or killed.

Which brought him to his current dilemma. There wasn't much time left. Criminals were still being killed, thanks to Light's connection with the Second Kira, who was quite possibly Misa Amane. He couldn't let this go on much longer.

On the evening of the agreement, he had received an unexpected call from Seto Kaiba, asking to borrow the Death Note. After finding out that he was connected to the Egyptian spirits, L had reluctantly agreed. When he asked why he needed it, he had received a pretty vague answer: "The baka yamis are dreaming up a game."

A game, eh? Now what did that mean, he wondered. Was it some kind of code? Or had it been literal? He had asked Mogi to check out some books on ancient Egyptian games earlier this morning; he should be back soon.

Sure enough, the doors to the large room opened, and in marched Mogi with, not a stack of ten books, nor twenty books, but…one book. A very old volume it looked to be as well. L couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"My deepest apologies, Ryuuzaki-sama, but this was all I could find on ancient Egyptian games," Mogi said in a soft voice. Ryuuzaki nodded, waving him away as he opened the dusty tome.

Senet…Ball and Stick…Horse-racing…at the very back of the book, he found what he was looking for.

_Shadow Games_

_Little is known about these mysterious and dark games played just over 3,000 years ago, during what archaeologists know of only as, the 'Shadow Ages'. This mysterious gap in the records of Egypt, lasting for approximately two years, between the Pharaohs Akunankanon and Seto, still serves to baffle many archaeologists. It could not have been an intermediate period, because a ruler of the same family appeared right afterwards, which means that there had been a ruler during this short time. However, historians are yet to find out who. It is not because the local Egyptians do not know. Rather, it seems that they are afraid to tell, as the though the mere mention of this nameless ruler was enough to send them to their knees._

_What we do know about this time is the fact that mysterious games, known as Shadow Games, were played. It is rumored that these games involved summoning monsters to do battle, and that these battles could determine a person's very fate. They were often played to pass justice upon evildoers, so that their evil deeds would come back and ensnare them. A murderer would lose his life, a thief his hand or possessions. _

_It has recently been uncovered that these Shadow Games did not necessarily involve monsters. One who possessed the 'power of the Shadows' could initiate a game anytime and anywhere, and make their own rules and conditions. The game might be a seemingly harmless game of darts, or a deadly swordfight. Either way, the challengee is almost always the one to lose, for these Games were created to pass judgement, and as long as the person has evil in his heart, he will pay the price. _

L's eyes widened in astonishment. Was this what Kaiba had meant when he said that the darks were 'dreaming up a game'? If they were spirits from 3000 years ago, then they must surely have a connection to this power, and thus will be able to initiate a Shadow Game. Which meant that they were most likely thinking of game to challenge Light Yagami with. One which involved both Death Notes.

But was this wise? What use would the Death Notes be for them? L's eyes widened even more as another thought struck him, and he rose quickly out of his seat and called for his limo.

As he got in the car with Watari behind the wheel, he thought to himself,

_No more lives must be lost.

* * *

_

Yami sighed. Another long day of trying to figure out that ridiculously complicated Shadow Game. Personally, he didn't think that involving the Death Note was a good idea, but this _was _Bakura and Marik he was talking about. Still, as long as he was able to rescue Yugi, Yami figured everything would be alright.

_Yugi…_

Yami remembered that day clearly. The day of the Ceremonial Duel, where Yami had actually broke down _crying _in front of eleven people when facing the possibility of leaving his light. He had lost count of how many times he had thanked Ma'at, Ra, Osiris, Isis, and every other god he knew that Bakura and Marik hadn't yet been there to witness him in the state. Back then…

_Atemu was ashamed of himself. Ashamed for showing such weakness as crying in front of his friends. But hearing his friends beg him to stay like this, it was too much for him. He didn't want to go, and knowing that his friends wanted the same, he now had no more strength to step into the light flooding from the afterlife. A soft hand touched his shoulder, and he looked up into the most beautiful amethyst eyes he had ever seen. _

"_You don't have to stay for us, you know. As much as we hate for you to go, as long as you're happy, we'll be happy."_

Even back then, Yugi had been naïve, and had automatically assumed the best possible scenario. He had thought that Yami had wanted to give up his own happiness for the sake of his friends'. But that hadn't been the case. Yami had not wanted to give up _his _own happiness by leaving; he hadn't even given a second thought about the other people in the room. Except for Yugi.

But worrying about that wouldn't help now. They were no closer to finding the Second Kira than Seto Kaiba was to giving up Kaiba Corporation to Jounouchi. If only they had the slightest hint.

Suddenly, a shadow fell across the room as a large figure blocked the window. Yami looked up, startled, and gave out a strangled yelp. On his windowsill stood a Shinigami. But it wasn't Ryuk. This Shinigami was evidently female, and had a great skeletal-looking body, with purple markings on her flat face and a bandage wrapped under her tentacle-like hair.

"W-who are you?" Yami stammered. The Shinigami turned yellow eyes onto him, and the King of Games resisted the urge to scoot back.

"I am Ren. The Shinigami who belongs to the Second Kira," she replied. Ruby eyes widened.

"B-but what are you doing here?" Yami asked warily, having gotten over the initial shock, and now cautiously standing up.

"I do not believe that Light Yagami is a good influence on my host. I believe it would be best if he was…disposed of," Ren replied. Yami cocked his head in confusion. What???

"So…you don't approve of what Light is doing," Yami restated. Ren nodded silently. Oh great, it looked like she wasn't the talkative type. "Who is the Second Kira then? Can you tell me?" Yami was desperate now.

Ren took a deep breath. She was still unsure whether or not she was doing the right thing in keeping Misa happy. But this had to be done.

"The Second Kira is…Misa Amane."

* * *

**Darkie: **Tadaa!!! Wow, that was short, even for me. xD My most humble apologies peoples, but I reckoned I might as well throw ya something to entertain yourselves with while I work on my next chapter.

**Bakura: **_-jumps out and grabs her from behind- __**FOOUUUR DAAAAYS!**_

**Darkie: **Meep! Four days until what?

**Marik: **_-rolls eyes- _Duh, your birthday.

**Darkie: **_-blinks- _OH YEAH, MY BIRTHDAY IS IN FOUR DAYS!!! SWEETNESS!!! And in case any of you read this later than this date, know that my birthday is on May 31st. The year shall remain a mystery...xD

**Everybody: **_**-**__sweatdrop-_

**Misa: **You know, it'd be funnier if it was 'Seven days…'.

**Darkie: **Yeah, well, I couldn't post this in time. Bye bye peeps!

_**REVIEW!!! YOU'S WILL BE GIVEN CYBER DARK MAGICIAN PLUSHIES!!!**_


	11. Chapter 11, yes peoples, it's CHAPTER 11

**Darkie: **Tadaa! Wow, three updates in the span of less than a week. A new record! I apologize for the shortness of the chapter, guys, but I kind of I _had _to leave it there, if you get my gist. Hehe, I just love torturing you all.

**Bakura: **You're just saying that to cover up for the fact that you still haven't thought up a decent Shadow Game.

**Darkie: **Shut, you.

**Disclaimer (for once): **If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh!, I wouldn't be wasting my time on this fanfiction site writing _fan_fictions. Sheesh, must you rub it in? _-sobs-_  


* * *

**Previously, on Yu-Gi-Oh!

* * *

**

"_The Second Kira is…Misa Amane."

* * *

_

**And now, the conclusion!

* * *

**

Crimson eyes widened in shock and confusion.

"M-Misa? Really?" he stammered out. Stammering was not something that the ancient Pharaoh did often, but as of now, he was too stressed to care about pride. The Shinigami nodded gravely.

"I would know," Ren said, "for I am her Shinigami."

"What?" Yami was even more confused than ever. "If you're her Shinigami, then why are you telling me this?"

Ren's face seemed to take on a sad expression, although it was hard to tell with a God of Death. She sighed, her breath causing her wormlike hair to flutter.

"I do not believe that Light is taking the right path in purging this world of evil," she admitted. "I believe that it will only lead to more pain, and for Misa, heartbreak."

Yami could only stare, the gears in his mind working frantically. So even this, this _Shinigami_ did not agree with Light's intentions. If she was this willing to divulge such information, then perhaps all hope was not yet lost.

"Then do you know where they are keeping my Aibou?" Yami asked. "I need to know. You have no idea how much he means to me." His crimson eyes were pleading, desperate, and held such emotion that Ren had no doubt this boy's love for Yugi was sincere.

"They are keeping him at Misa's apartment on 13th Street," she replied. "I can show you there if you want."

Yami sighed. "No, you have already put yourself at enough risk. If Misa were to find out that you did this, I'm afraid that she would never forgive you," he said. "I can tell you care for her a lot."

Ren's face seemed cast in shadow. "Indeed," she murmured. "Perhaps more than a Shinigami should. It is too dangerous."

"How so?" Yami asked. Now that he had the information he wanted, he was now curious about the Death God.

"Loving someone, romantically, or even as a sibling, like I do Misa, is dangerous for us Death Gods," Ren replied. "It is feelings for a human that can cause our demise. Just like it did Gelous…" She murmured the last sentence, but that did not stop Yami from hearing it.

"Gelous? Is he another Shinigami?" he asked. Ren nodded.

"It was his love for Misa that lead to his demise," she said. "He was willing to go against fate, and save her from her destined end, ultimately leading to his own death."

So a Shinigami must be willing to extend another human's life in order to die. Yami did not know what to make of this information, but he pushed it out of his mind; he had more pressing matters to attend to. Like finding Yugi, for one. Oh, and ensuring that Light met a painful end. A very painful end. Preferably one with lots of blood.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang downstairs, and Yami's gaze slid to the open door, before returning to Ren. Except that Ren was no where to be found. Sighing, he made his way out of the room and down the stairs, suddenly feeling extremely giddy with relief.

Downstairs, he found Bakura, Marik, Ryou, Malik, and Seto facing a thoroughly harassed-looking L. He raised an elegant eyebrow, eyes asking his question for him.

"He wants to know what we plan on doing with the Death Note," Bakura explained. "Apparently he found out about the Shadow Games."

Oh. That explained it. Yami turned his red gaze back to L, who didn't so much as flinch.

"You must not take any lives, spirit," the detective insisted. "It will make you no better than Kira."

Yami's eyebrows met his hairline. He smirked for the first time in many days.

"Who said we were going to use it to kill people?" he asked. Everybody stared at him. Bakura and Marik almost seemed disappointed.

"What are you talking about Pharaoh?" Marik asked. "What else are we going to do with the Death Note?"

Yami smirked again. "I am not going to stoop so low as to take an innocent person's life," he stated, snatching the notebook from Seto and rifling through it. "I've already got it all thought out. After all, who said that I was going to use this to kill _real _people?"

Everbody was still staring at him, thoroughly stumped. Gradually, however, a grin crept up Bakura's face.

"You're going to use illusions?" he asked, smile still etched on his face. Yami's smirk widened.

"You'll just have to wait and see, Bakura. You'll just have to wait and see," he said. "Speaking of which, I've got some information for you on the whereabouts of our enemy."

* * *

**The Apartment on 13****th**** Street, Room Number 6

* * *

**

Yugi sighed, tossing the magazine onto the ground. A stack of them was slowly growing in the corner, showing how bored Yugi had been lately. Not that the magazines had anything interesting in them, as they were mostly about fashion and entertainment. Groaning, he turned his gaze to the ceiling, proceeding to pass the time finding pictures in the plaster.

_I hope Yami finds me soon…

* * *

_

**Same place, same time, with Light Yagami

* * *

**

Light cursed in frustration as he sat down in front of the blank television screen. This entire charade was getting extremely tedious. Why didn't those annoying spirits just give up and return the Death Note? What could they possibly gain from keeping it anyways? Did they really think they stood a chance of getting out of this predicament?

No, he was thinking too much into this, Light reasoned. From what Ryuk had told him, these spirits had been extremely well-known people back in their day. Pharaoh of Egypt, King of Thieves, Head Tomb Keeper. They had to have brains for those kinds of things. Not to mention they were some of the world's Duel Monsters Elite. Being the extremely complicated game it was, one had to have a sharp mind and excellent observation skills to become champions. Not to mention they had practically all of Kaiba Corp's resources to back them up…no! He mustn't dwell on his disadvantages like this. _I have to prepare for anything,_ Light thought resolutely.

They must be planning something with L. But what? What could they possibly do? If they came at him with weapons and firearms, he could easily have them arrested; after all, who would believe them if they said he had a notebook that killed people?

But of course, none of that could happen unless they somehow found out where he was keeping Yugi.

His head snapped up in shock and horror, burgundy eyes wide. _No! She wouldn't dare!_ Light thought angrily as he dashed form the room, ignoring Misa's cry of surprise as he grabbed her shoulders.

"Where's Ren?" Light demanded. Misa just stared at him, confused.

"She just came back from doing whatever it was she went out to do," she said.

"What was she doing?" Light asked urgently, shaking Misa back and forth. This only served to further confuse the super model.

"How should I know?" she asked exasperatedly. "She probably went off to find Ryuk or something. She doesn't need my permission to leave the apartment; it's not as if anyone can see her."

_But that's just it. Some people _could _see her._

"Where is she now?" Light asked. Misa pointed down the hall towards her bedroom.

Ren was just turning away from the open window as Light burst into the room, door slamming against the dresser. She stared at him impassively, eyes and face betraying no emotion. Light went up to her menacingly.

"Where were you?" he hissed. Ren just looked at him.

"I went to do the right thing," she replied simply. Light yelled out in frustration. Ren half-expected Misa to come rushing in at any moment, but apparently this time she decided to keep her distance.

"You told them where we were!" he cried out, shock and horror evident in his voice. Ren merely nodded, before saying,

"There is nothing you can do, Light," she said monotonously. "They are on their way here as we speak."

Light clenched his fists and gritted his teeth at the inescapable truth. "What about Misa?" he asked, trying to keep his cool. "You just exposed her."

A flicker of emotion crossed Ren's yellow eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come. "I am doing what is best for Misa," she stated regally, head held high. "I will not let you use her, and then throw her away like a tool. It would break her heart."

Light made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat before turning away. It was too late now, he realized. As soon as they arrived, he'll just have to wing it and hope for the best. Just as the thought crossed his mind, the sound of a door slamming reached his ears, along with Misa's startled shout. Angry voices filled the apartment, while in the next room, Yugi let out a cry of triumph.

As Light made his presence known in the living room, a deadly crimson gaze was on him. Yami's teeth were bared in a snarl; he looked capable of murder.

"Where. Is. He?" he forced out through clenched teeth, but just then Misa brought in Yugi, still bound. In her hands she held her Death Note and a pen, ready to take action if needed. There was a determined glint in her eye that Light had never seen before.

"Yami!" Yugi cried out.

"Aibou!" Yami exclaimed in return, and made as if to go to him, but a gesture from Light, causing Misa to hand him the Death Note, stopped him. The Pharaoh settled for glaring at Light hatefully.

"You're going to pay for this," he hissed. Light put all his effort into looking indifferent.

"Do you have the Death Note?" he asked calmly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the white-haired spirit take out said notebook from an inside pocket of his trench coat. "Then have you agreed to my terms?"

"Like hell we have," Marik, the tanned spirit spat out. "We've got a score to settle with you!"

"Oh really?" Light replied, raising an eyebrow. Inside, he was fuming. So these spirits still thought they could outsmart him? Him, Light Yagami, valedictorian of Tou Ou University?

At this, Yami took a step forward. He stuck out his hand, and Bakura handed him the Death Note. "Light Yagami," he began. Blood-red eyes stared at him from under the shadow of blonde bangs.

"It's game time."

* * *

**Darkie: **O_O I suddenly feel very sorry for Light. Alas, this story is coming to a close! At the most, there will only be three chapters left! Oh noes! But then I'll be able to post my new _Super Special Awesome Secret _fic!

**Marik: **_-pops his head into the room- _I'll give y'all a hint! It has something to do with a nuthouse, and the number 666!

**Darkie: **GAH! GET OUT OF HERE YOU PSYCHO, AND STOP SPOILING MY STORY!

**PLEASE REVIEW! YOU'LL GET CYBER...ER...UM...CYBER...LIFE SIZE YAMI POSTERS WITH HIM DRESSED AS...UH...DRESSED AS...WHATEVER YOU WANT! (for you to mount on your cieling so it'll be the first thing you see every morning, xD) **

**Yami: **x_x

**AGAIN, _REVIEW_ AS IF YOU'RE LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!**

**V  
**


	12. It's Game Time!

**Darkie: **_-bursts out from under piles of papers- _I'M ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!!!!

**Light: **Humph! It's about time! We've been waiting forever!

**Darkie: **Er…yeah…I can explain that! _–goes to look through 'Excuse Archives' for a good excuse- _Uh…I had…writer's block! Because I couldn't think of a suitably awesome shadow game!

**Yugi: **I thought you already had one in mind.

**Darkie: **_-gulps- _I did…but…I didn't know how to make it seem…not as lame as it sounded in my head.

**Everybody: **_-anime fall- _

**Disclaimer: **Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, and Death Note belongs to…the dude who created it. Also, the basis for the Shadow Game idea isn't mine. It was given to me by a fellow reviewer…and…that person knows who she is! Thanks a lot!

**Dedication: **This chapter is dedicated to...an anonymous reviewer going by the name of **Ijustdidthiscuzutoldme2**...uh...yeah...you know who you are! ...whoever you are...maybe I SHOULD ban anonymous reviews again.

And so, I invite you to read this hastily thrown together chapter.

---

"_It's game time."_

---

Light blinked. _What_ _did he just say?_ A _game?_ What the hell were they playing at? Across the room, Yami smirked, as though sensing his confusion.

"Yes, a game," he continued. "A Shadow Game, to be precise."

"A Shadow Game?" Light asked warily. "What's the catch?"

Yami's eyes flashed. "Very good…there _is _a catch. We'll be using these," he held up Light's Death Note and gestured to Misa's. "They will be crucial to the game."

Light looked at him in confusion. What was this guy playing at? Suddenly, Light noticed that the apartment was getting darker, and that tendrils of shadows seemed to be creeping along the walls. Behind him, Misa gave a startled cry.

"What's going on?" Light voiced his thoughts out loud. Bakura and Marik snickered, while Yami's smirk widened.

"This," he said, gesturing to their surroundings, "is the Shadow Realm. Where Duel Monsters dwell, and where punished souls spend eternity. The rules of the game are simple. It is a game of judgment. You should be good at that, eh, Kira?"

Light didn't answer, and Yami continued.

"Each turn, you will be shown the image of a human. The human's name shall be shown above their head. Taking in the person's appearance, you must use your sense of _judgment_, as you so call it, to decide whether or not this human's heart is pure. If you believe that the human has committed a crime in their life, write down their name in your Death Note, and the image shall disappear. To assure that the game moves quickly, you have only thirty seconds to decide the fate of each illusion. If you kill an innocent, you lose. If you let a criminal escape, you also lose."

Light's mind was reeling from this information. So he had to use his sense of judgment to judge each image's character, and decide its fate. With a jolt, Light realized that this game was going to be harder than it seemed.

"Do you accept?" Yami asked. Light met his blood-red gaze steadily, and he nodded. Yami chuckled darkly. "Then let us begin. Game start!"

Immediately in front of Light, an image of a man appeared. He quickly opened his Death Note to a blank page, before scrutinizing the man before him. He was clean-shaven, with a neat haircut and thick glasses. His posture was relaxed and lenient. Light deemed him innocent, and the image disappeared, to be replaced with another. The youth let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

The next image was of a beautiful blond woman, with red, full lips and a rather large amount of make-up on her face. Her clothes were hardly considered modest, and her posture was haughty. Light took an instant dislike to her, but halted his pen tip before it could touch the Death Note. Though the woman may look and probably act mean, it didn't mean she was a criminal. He decided to take the risk and let her pass. Another image replaced hers, and Light gave himself a mental pat on the back.

Across from Light, Yami was faced with a scruffy looking man with a 5 o' clock shadow and beady black eyes. He wrote down the man's name with a flourish, and his image shattered into a million tiny pieces.

The next picture Yami faced was that of a teenage boy. He looked lanky and underfed, with oversized and dirty clothes. Yami's first instinct was to write his name down, until he caught sight of the boy's eyes. They were a brilliant emerald green, portraying innocence almost akin to Yugi's. Yami let the image pass. The eyes were the window to the soul, after all, and they never lied.

As the two teens wrote down names and let images pass, Bakura and Marik lounged at the edge of the shadows, with Misa not far from them, still holding onto Yugi.

"You have to admit, the Pharaoh sure could cook up a Shadow Game," Bakura commented lazily, fingering his Millennium Ring, which was glowing softly due to the presence of the shadows. Marik nodded mutely, as he let the Shadows twist and curl around his Millennium Rod. Beside them, Misa was watching the events unfolding with wide, scared eyes, while Yugi simply observed the goings on with a blank expression.

Light wrote down the woman's name, and the image cracked and shattered. The next image he passed by automatically, as it was of a little girl holding a teddy bear. A man with a black goatee and dark, intelligent eyes stared back at him. The name above him read: Gregory Himere. Light looked the man up and down for a moment, before deciding that the guy was innocent. The image disappeared as another one took its place.

---

L was extremely on edge. He had arrived at Misa's apartment with Watari, only to find a huge purple and blue…thing, in the middle of the living room. Something was going on, and all fingers pointed at those three Egyptian spirits. L realized that they must have started a Shadow Game. Hesitantly, he stuck his hand through the cloud of shadows, only to receive a shock as his hand came right back at him. He quickly pulled it out, deciding that the barrier, whatever it was, was keeping him and Watari from entering.

"What should we do now, Ryuuzaki-sama?" Watari asked worriedly. L lowered his arm and took a seat on the only armchair that hadn't been covered by the orb of shadows, and he said,

"Now, we wait."

After all, there wasn't really anything else they could do.

---

Yami passed over a motherly looking woman in her mid-forties, and killed a heavy-lidded man with a scraggly beard. He was getting increasingly bored.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Light was struggling. He was faced with a man, looking to be in his late fifties or early sixties, wearing a velvet button-up coat and black slacks. There was something weird about the guy, but Light couldn't decide whether or not he was good or bad. His eyes were hidden behind tinted eyeglasses, meaning that Light had to judge the man by his body language alone. He was sitting in a large, overstuffed armchair, feat resting on a pouf. In his hand he held a glass of champagne. Now, he's either just a rich old man, or, Light thought, he's one of those freaky rich pedophiles that go around molesting little children. He weighed his options, and was about to write down the man's name, when the image disappeared. Light gasped, as the Death Note suddenly burned red-hot in his hand, and he dropped it. Across from him, Yami let out a relieved sigh.

_Dammit,_ Light thought. _I lost. If only I had been quicker. I could've written down the guy's name!_ He looked up to see Yami standing over him with an odd glint in his eyes that Light wasn't sure he liked. A golden Egyptian eye was shining on his tanned forehead.

"I must admit, Light Yagami, I'm impressed," Yami said. "Unlike most of the scum I've played against, you didn't cheat when you got bored. You played the game right through to the end, and lost fair and square."

Light glared at him, feeling slightly insulted. Yami had thought he would cheat? Even he wouldn't stoop that low!

"And so…I suppose I should slightly lessen your intended punishment," Yami said softly. He raised his hand and pointed at Light. "PENALTY---!"

"NO! WAIT!" a shriek stopped Yami midsentence, as a red and black blur shot in front of light. Misa held her arms outstretched on either side as she stood in front of Light, who could only blink in astonishment. Yami lowered his hand.

"Get out of the way, Amane," he growled. Misa trembled where she stood, but stood her ground. Light was impressed.

"No, I won't let you hurt him!" she cried out. "Please, I don't know what I'd do without Light! Don't hurt him!"

Yami stared at the girl in front of her. Though Misa was the infamous second Kira, and undoubtedly more dangerous than Light himself, since she had the power of the Shinigami eyes, her heart was almost completely pure. It was only tainted with the hatred she felt for the man who caused her parents deaths.

"He lost the game," Yami said firmly. "I am bound by the Shadows to punish him."

"But—"

"There is another way," a new voice joined the group in the shadows. Everybody turned around to see Ren and Ryuk floating in the abyss.

"Ren! Ryuk! What are you doing here?" Misa asked. Ren ignored the question, and instead beckoned to Yami, who approached the death god hesitantly. For a while nobody moved, as the two death gods conversed with the ancient Pharaoh in low, raspy murmurs. Light watched them apprehensively, and glanced at the Death Note lying mere feet away, but shook off the temptation. Something told him that it would be unwise to try and kill the already dead spirit.

Finally, Yami made his way back over to Light, who had finally stood up, head held high with what dignity he had left. Yami picked up both Death Notes from their place on the ground.

"I have decided your punishment," he said finally. He turned a crimson gaze towards Light's brown one. "Due to the fact that Misa loves you much more than you deserve to be loved, I believe that it would be too cruel to trap your mind in the Shadow Realm. Too cruel for _her_, that is." His gaze rested on Misa for a moment. "Ren and Ryuk told me something interesting about the Death Note. It seems that Ryuk, in a moment of boredom, decided to forsake the rules when Light lost ownership of his Death Note."

Light's eyes widened when he realized what the spirit was getting at. Yami smiled a genuine smile, raising his hand once more to point at him.

"Penalty Game."

---

**Darkie: **Dun dun DUN! What will happen? Although I think I made it pretty obvious to anyone who knows the rules of the Death Note well enough. xD Gawd, this chapter was so crappeh!

**Light: **_-is currently unconscious from the Penalty Game-_

**Darkie: **Don't worry, Light fans! He's still alive! And I finally updated! That should be cause enough for celebration, right? xD Also, all those LightxMisa haters out there, I understand your pain, but if you're going to complain about it in a review, then f*ck off, because I don't want to hear it.

**Yugi: **Please review!

**Darkie: **_-sniff, sobs- _This stories almost over! I can't believe it! Only one more chapter! _-cries- _My first ever finished multi-chapter story! I feel so proud!


	13. Epilogue

**Darkie: **I'm still alive peeps! And since I now have THREE new stories waiting in the wings, I'm going to hurry up and finish this one! This is technically an epilogue, so it will explain what happened to Light. Don't worry peeps, he's okay! ^^ Also, just a warning: this chapter sucks ass.

**Disclaimer: **I ain't own nuthin'.

* * *

**Epilogue: (otherwise known as three days later ^^')**

Light obediently took notes as the economy teacher gave her lecture. However, his mind was on other things, none of them involving stock prices. Yugi, Ryou, Malik, and Misa had been giving him odd looks for the past few days, and it was really starting to get on his nerves. Whenever he asked them what was wrong, they simply smiled and said that it was nothing. But Light knew better. They had all been acting differently, ever since he had woken up at Misa's apartment.

Light furrowed his brow and scratched his head irritably. Why _had _he been at Misa's apartment in the first place? And those spirits that followed Yugi, Ryou, and Malik around had been there too…and Yugi had been tied up. What was up with that?

The bell finally rang, and Light quickly gathered up this things and strode out of class, intending to get some alone time on the lawn, and try to figure things out.

* * *

Yugi watched as Light practically sprinted out of the room, undoubtedly to forage a few minutes alone so that he could think about things. Ever since Light woke up from the penalty game, he had been different. Aside from the obvious memory loss, of course.

_/Flashback/_

"_Penalty Game."_

_Light crumpled to the ground, unconscious, and Misa gave out a cry of shock. Once the Shadows had dissipated from the room, they were faced with the stern face of L, and his assistant Watari, who had apparently been waiting for them the whole time._

"_What did you do to Light?" Misa asked worriedly, still kneeling by his side. L and Watari made as if to go over to him, but Yami held up a hand, signaling them to stop. _

"_There will be no more need to arrest Light," he said. L and Watari stared at him incredulously._

"_I'm sorry, Yami, but I'm afraid we had an agreement," L replied. Yami nodded._

"_That may be true, but there have been a change of plans," he said. _

"_Why?" Watari asked. Yami turned his gaze to him._

"_Because Light no longer remembers anything that he did concerning the Death Note," he stated calmly._

_A deafening silence met his words, as all eyes swiveled from Yami to Light's unconscious form. Misa was looking at Light with unreadable expression on her face, before she stood up._

"_Well, I suppose it's for the best," she said softly, surprising everybody with her unusually serious tone of voice. "At least this way, both sides are satisfied. And Light won't be upset, because he won't remember anything about being Kira."_

"_Rem was the one who suggested it," Yami said, his eyes seeking out the female Shinigami. "It was supposed to have happened anyway when Bakura stole the Death Note, except Ryuk didn't obey the rules and decided to stick around Light."_

_Said Shinigami gave a raspy chuckle as everybody turned to glare at him. _

"_Well, I suppose that I should return to the Shinigami World then, eh?" he chortled, before he melted into the nearest wall and left._

"_Good riddance," Bakura muttered. Misa turned to Rem._

"_Are you going to go too Rem?" she asked tearfully. "I don't want to forget about you _or_ the notebook!"_

"_If you're going to keep the notebook," Yugi spoke up. "You can't use it. And don't show it to Light, either. He might start this whole thing all over again."_

_Misa nodded quickly. A low groan broke the following silence. On the sofa (Misa had put Light onto it after he collapsed), Light began to stir. Everybody held their breath as his eyelids fluttered open._

"_What happened? Where am I?" Light muttered as he sat up, rubbing his forehead. A sudden thought struck Yugi._

_/Will he remember the Shadow Game?/ he asked Yami through the mind link. _

_//He doesn't remember anything having to do with the Death Note// Yami replied. //That includes the Shadow Game.//_

_Yugi immediately relaxed. /Will he remember anything about you, Bakura, and Marik?/ he asked._

_//Unfortunately, yes. Though he probably won't remember how he found out. We'll just tell him that we told him.// Yami replied. _

_/Alright then./_

_The two turned their attention back to Light, who was being tended to by a fussy Misa. _

"_Honestly Misa, I'm fine," he said exasperatedly as Misa put a long-nailed hand to his forehead to check for a fever. "I must have hit my head or something and blacked out."_

_The college-student suddenly seemed to notice the other people in the room. _

"_Yugi-kun? Yami-san, Bakura-san, Marik-san?" he asked bewilderedly, before he caught sight of L and Watari. "R-Ryuuzaki-san? And…"_

"_This is my assistant, Watari," L answered Light's unspoken question, before turning to the others. "Well, I suppose my business here is over. Although we'll have to find a way to explain Kira's sudden disappearance to the agency."_

"_Just make up a story about how you found him on the cliffs by the beach, and you shot him and he fell in," Marik said nonchalantly. "No one will bother trying to find his body."_

_L simply nodded, and together he and Watari left the apartment. Light looked at everybody else in confusion._

"_What's this about Kira?"_

_/End Flashback/_

Yugi sighed. That had got to be the weirdest adventure of his life. And he had thought that his life would be free of weirdness once they got back from Egypt. But then again, life was never _normal_ when you were sharing a body (sometimes) with a 3,000 year old spirit. Albeit a really _sexy_ 3,000 year old spirit.

//You know I heard that Aibou.// Yami's voice echoed in his mind, and Yugi smirked in a way that was reminiscent of his darker half.

/I know you did, Yami./ he replied. /At least this whole thing is finally over./

//Although Light _has_ been looking rather confused as of late.// Yami observed.

/Well, it's probably for the best,/ Yugi thought back. /He _was_ killing people./

//Hmm,// Yami answered, before the two lapsed into silence.

* * *

Light sat under a large beech tree on the university campus, reading and rereading his notes, but not taking anything in. He was still confused about the whole 'waking-up-in-Misa's-apartment-with-no-clue-as-to-what-happened' thing.

But maybe, Light thought. Maybe it's not important. But that didn't explain the looks he was getting from everybody else. Perhaps they were concerned that he had a delayed concussion or something? Light frowned. He hadn't hit his head _that_ hard, had he? It hadn't hurt at all when he had woken up.

_Maybe I'm just worrying too much_, Light concluded. But that didn't seem to be it. Over the past few days he had felt a dark void in his mind, as though he had amnesia and couldn't remember something. But he couldn't for the life of him figure out what he was forgetting.

_I must be going crazy_, Light thought wryly. He wondered if crazy people wondered they were crazy. Probably not. So that would make him not crazy…right?

Whatever…

"Light!"

Said person looked up from his notes to see Misa run towards him and sit down next to him under the beech tree. He gave her a slight smile before deciding to ask her the question that had been bugging him all week.

"Hey, Misa," he began awkwardly, unsure how to phrase his question. Misa looked at him expectantly. "Why have you and Yugi-tachi been giving me weird looks for the past three days?"

At this question a light blush tinted Misa's cheeks, and she averted her gaze.

"Oh, nothing," she said, but upon catching sight of Light's less-than-agreeable gaze, she quickly rephrased her answer. "It's just that…well, when you slipped and fell at my apartment, you were out of it for so long, we were so worried. We just want to make sure you don't…I dunno, black out on us or anYthing."

Light nodded, still not buying it, but he figured that Misa wouldn't give him a better answer than that. And Yugi-tachi would probably be even harder to get answers out of. He leaned back against the bark, enjoying the fresh breeze that swept through the area.

It doesn't matter anymore, he decided. Whatever happened that day probably wasn't important. It was time he forgot about the past and focused on the future. Speaking of which, he wondered whether he would be able to get a job at the Police Agency…

* * *

THE END

* * *

**Darkie: **O_O OH MY GOOOOD!!!! I'M FINISHED!!!!!!!!! _-starts to hyperventilate-_

**Yami: **Calm down, Darkie.

**Darkie: **Also, yes, I know the ending wasn't GREAT, but I really couldn't think of any other way. I really didn't want Light to die or go to jail…so I settled with the memory loss. Like in the anime, you know, when he gets Ryuk to erase his memory so that he would be released from confinement. ^^ Anyways, boys, you know what this means?

**Everybody else: **CAST PARTAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!

**Darkie: **Yay! _-throws confetti- _

_Special thanks to all of my faithful reviewers and readers. Without you, this story would not have gotten to this point. ^^ Thank you everybody! Please review! _

**Next in the ****Yami-no-Tamashii Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover fanfiction series**: INUYASHA!!! YEAH BABY!!!

(Well, technically it's NOT a series, but I've discovered I'm a lot better at writing crossovers than all that normal Puzzleshipping Yaoi stuff. xD Figures, I suck at romance. Lies and Betrayal is living proof.)

The next fanfiction I'm posting is a little something of mine that I'm quite proud of…even though I only wrote like three and a half chapters. I went over the first chapter so many times; I hope it's up to scratch! O.o

Plus I'll finally reveal the title!!!

Next Story: _Straightjackets_ – The title really has nothing to do with the plot at all aside from the fact that it takes place in an asylum…xD You'll just have to wait and see, Puzzleshippers!

**Darkie: **Oh my god, I still can't believe this story is done...I feel a little...dizzy..._-collapses in a dead faint- _

**Ryou: **_-waves smelling salts under Darkie's nose but gets no reaction- _Oh dear. Anyways, please review! _-turns away- _BAKURA, DARKIE FAINTED!!!

**Bakura: **WHAT? AGAIN?!?!?!


End file.
